 | The Triangular Society |  |
210
TO CASCO BAY.
Beautiful bay! I gladly fly
Down to the shore where your waves beat high,—
There 's nobody here but you and me,
Nobody here to hear or see,
Our only guests are the birds and the wind,
The waves before and the cliff behind,
And the rocks are steep and hard to climb,
So none will intrude on our breathing-time,
And all to ourselves we will have the day,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
Down to the shore where your waves beat high,—
There 's nobody here but you and me,
Nobody here to hear or see,
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The waves before and the cliff behind,
And the rocks are steep and hard to climb,
So none will intrude on our breathing-time,
And all to ourselves we will have the day,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
Tired of the town, with its selfish hearts,
Its vain pretences and ill-played parts,
The crush of streets and the strife of marts,
The roll of coaches and rattle of carts,—
And stifled beneath a worldly crust,
Deafened with noise and choked with dust,
My heart is a bird in the fowler's trap,
Or a butterfly caught in a schoolboy's cap,—
And I long to be free, as I am to-day,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
Its vain pretences and ill-played parts,
The crush of streets and the strife of marts,
The roll of coaches and rattle of carts,—
And stifled beneath a worldly crust,
Deafened with noise and choked with dust,
My heart is a bird in the fowler's trap,
Or a butterfly caught in a schoolboy's cap,—
And I long to be free, as I am to-day,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
Come, tell me some of the tales you know,
The ocean legends of long ago,—
The stories told by in-coming waves,
Of wrecking tempests and foamy graves,
Of booming billows and shattered ships,
And vain prayers strangled on ashy lips;—
I 've heard you echo them o'er and o'er,
With a mournful wail to the saddened shore,
Though now so gladly your waters play,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
The ocean legends of long ago,—
The stories told by in-coming waves,
Of wrecking tempests and foamy graves,
Of booming billows and shattered ships,
And vain prayers strangled on ashy lips;—
I 've heard you echo them o'er and o'er,
With a mournful wail to the saddened shore,
Though now so gladly your waters play,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
I love your voice as I hear it come
Like a chorus grand, through the city's hum,
Thrilling the fine electric chain
That binds me to Nature's heart, again—
That heart whose current flows wide and far,
Whose ceaseless throbbings your billows are,—
And my truant soul comes back to me
When your leafless forest of masts I see,
And I fling my handful of cares away,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
Like a chorus grand, through the city's hum,
Thrilling the fine electric chain
That binds me to Nature's heart, again—
That heart whose current flows wide and far,
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And my truant soul comes back to me
When your leafless forest of masts I see,
And I fling my handful of cares away,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
Adieu! I go—and beneath the roar
Of your headlong waves on the rocky shore,
In the surf-tossed sea-weed and broken shells,
I hear a murmur of soft farewells;—
I shall love you still with a worship true,
And this wide bright reach of tossing blue,
This sparkling plain, where the gazer sees
The snowy-white sails blossom out in the breeze,
Will live in my heart for many a day,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
Of your headlong waves on the rocky shore,
In the surf-tossed sea-weed and broken shells,
I hear a murmur of soft farewells;—
I shall love you still with a worship true,
And this wide bright reach of tossing blue,
This sparkling plain, where the gazer sees
The snowy-white sails blossom out in the breeze,
Will live in my heart for many a day,
Beautiful Casco Bay!
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