Later Poems of Alexander Anderson "Surfaceman": Edited with a Biographical Sketch, by Alexander Brown: A New Edition |
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THE SISTERS. |
 | Later Poems of Alexander Anderson |  |
THE SISTERS.
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.”
Two sisters stood by the window,
The winds were in their hair;
And cheek to cheek they watched and saw,
The smooth sea sleeping there.
The winds were in their hair;
And cheek to cheek they watched and saw,
The smooth sea sleeping there.
“O sister,” said one, “my heart beats high
For the moving of the sea;
I wait for the rising of the dead,
That will bring my lover to me.
For the moving of the sea;
I wait for the rising of the dead,
That will bring my lover to me.
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“But the sea is calm and no stir is seen,
Yet I know the breath of the Lord
Will blow like a wind on the depths and bring
My lover to keep his word.”
Yet I know the breath of the Lord
Will blow like a wind on the depths and bring
My lover to keep his word.”
“And I,” said the other sister, “wait
For the moving of the sea;
For there, far down in its gulfs, is one
Who on earth was false to me.
For the moving of the sea;
For there, far down in its gulfs, is one
Who on earth was false to me.
“He sleeps in the depths, with a thousand things
That lie in the caverns there;
And I know, as he sleeps, that upon his breast
Is a lock of my sister's hair.”
That lie in the caverns there;
And I know, as he sleeps, that upon his breast
Is a lock of my sister's hair.”
And cheek to cheek the sisters stood,
And breathed as with one breath;
Their eyes set fast on the sleeping sea,
With its hidden things of death.
And breathed as with one breath;
Their eyes set fast on the sleeping sea,
With its hidden things of death.
| Later Poems of Alexander Anderson | |