When I was at primary school in the late 1960s, some of us 'performed' a narrative poem from one of our class anthologies. It was about (I think) someone who fell in love with a mermaid, couldn't bear to be parted from her and eventually went to join her under the sea (or not?). I think the end says something about being able to hear a distant bell, but not sure whether it was a wedding bell or a funeral bell.
The anthology was one of a set of about four, with a sort of wallpaper pattern on the cover in grey and a pastel colour, according to which book it was.