Poems By William Bell Scott. Ballads, Studies from Nature, Sonnets, etc. Illustrated by Seventeen Etchings by the Author and L. Alma Tadema |
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THE SEA-SHORE.
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 | Poems |  |
142
THE SEA-SHORE.
Two Pictures.
I.MIST.
Muffled and rime-laden, sombre and sad,
In a limbo 'tween night and day,
As if on an island we stand whose bounds
Are shadowed and charmed away.
In a limbo 'tween night and day,
As if on an island we stand whose bounds
Are shadowed and charmed away.
We wander as in some other old world,
Foot-printing the smooth brown sands,
The snaky weeds shrieking beneath the heel
That slides from their cellular bands.
Foot-printing the smooth brown sands,
The snaky weeds shrieking beneath the heel
That slides from their cellular bands.
Flakes of foam are blown from the ebb,
White runners along the beach,
Where yesterday's margin of crab's green claws
And stubble and starfish bleach.
White runners along the beach,
Where yesterday's margin of crab's green claws
And stubble and starfish bleach.
A filmy ship looms now and then
From the point where the keen winds blow,
Ghostlike it hangs in the air, then fades
Where the unknown keen winds go.
From the point where the keen winds blow,
Ghostlike it hangs in the air, then fades
Where the unknown keen winds go.
143
Wave after wave for ten thousand years
Has furrowed the brown sand here,
Wave after wave under clouds and stars
Has cried in the dead shore's ear.
Has furrowed the brown sand here,
Wave after wave under clouds and stars
Has cried in the dead shore's ear.
When Jesus was lifted on Calvary,
And saints long buried arose,
Through the black three hours the waves broke here,
Continuous as do those!
And saints long buried arose,
Through the black three hours the waves broke here,
Continuous as do those!
Overhead shoots a querulous cry,—
A sea-mew with long white breast
Down on the water sweeps out and away,
Pursuing its hungry quest.
A sea-mew with long white breast
Down on the water sweeps out and away,
Pursuing its hungry quest.
Old man, what find ye among the black pools?
Among the sea-hair what gain?
The fisherman lifts up his basket of bait,
The wind and waves only remain.
Among the sea-hair what gain?
The fisherman lifts up his basket of bait,
The wind and waves only remain.
II.SUNSHINE.
Through the wide-opened window shines this morn
The sun with a steady breeze,
The cottage smoke slants and hurries about,
Golden against the blue seas.
The sun with a steady breeze,
The cottage smoke slants and hurries about,
Golden against the blue seas.
144
Imperiously the breakers shout,
Imperiously they call,
With dazzling crests and curved prows,
Over each other they fall.
Imperiously they call,
With dazzling crests and curved prows,
Over each other they fall.
The yellow flat glitters beneath the shine
Like a flooring of priceless ware,
Dimpled and dotted by showers and ridged
Like a never-ascending stair.
Like a flooring of priceless ware,
Dimpled and dotted by showers and ridged
Like a never-ascending stair.
Our shadows outstepping before us go,
Drawn out by the level disc,
Each wet pebble, opal or ruby or green,
Casts a shade like an obelisk.
Drawn out by the level disc,
Each wet pebble, opal or ruby or green,
Casts a shade like an obelisk.
Merrily dancing and leaping alway,
Hither, and everywhere;
The white young sbrimps are merry as bees
In a clover-field's warm air.
Hither, and everywhere;
The white young sbrimps are merry as bees
In a clover-field's warm air.
Dogs bark and children's voices ring;
From the shelving rocks they see,
The sunlit sail of the fisherman's boat
Bearing home from the generous sea.
From the shelving rocks they see,
The sunlit sail of the fisherman's boat
Bearing home from the generous sea.
From the high house-door peers the dame,
With her broad hand shading her eyes,
Grimly she smiles as she shoulders her creel,
And down the rough pathway hies!
With her broad hand shading her eyes,
Grimly she smiles as she shoulders her creel,
And down the rough pathway hies!
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