 | Griselda |  |
209
“ON THE---th INSTANT, DROWNED WHILST BATHING.”
Ho! ho! do ye tempt me so,
Pale dwellers upon the land;
Seem I to come for love to your home,
Skirting the yellow sand?
When I doff my might and slumber in light
Under the summer skies,
Do ye dream I unfold my purple and gold
To pleasure your dainty eyes?
I mind the day when my dancing spray
Clean over your hills was thrown;
And my waves evermore lash madly the shore
While the great Sea seeketh its own.
Blithely ye play on the edge of my spray,
And dabble your feet in my fords,
But little ye think how the ocean's brink
Is athirst for its mortal lords.
Pale dwellers upon the land;
Seem I to come for love to your home,
Skirting the yellow sand?
When I doff my might and slumber in light
Under the summer skies,
Do ye dream I unfold my purple and gold
To pleasure your dainty eyes?
I mind the day when my dancing spray
Clean over your hills was thrown;
And my waves evermore lash madly the shore
While the great Sea seeketh its own.
Blithely ye play on the edge of my spray,
And dabble your feet in my fords,
But little ye think how the ocean's brink
Is athirst for its mortal lords.
210
Ho! ho! how well he could row!
The youth ye sent me to-day;
How bravely his oar drove the shallop from shore
As he came to me out of the bay.—
I watched him come from his cottage-home
Under the high green hill,
I foamed and dashed as the quick stroke splashed,
And he worked his eager will.
But ho! ho!—I looked for it so!
He leapt to my green great arm,
And felt how cold was my deep sea fold,
And chilled with a strange alarm,
Did he deem me mild when the blue sky smiled,
Fierce only in stormy strife?
A boat ye sent—and a life ye lent—
Ho! I kept the warm young life!
The youth ye sent me to-day;
How bravely his oar drove the shallop from shore
As he came to me out of the bay.—
I watched him come from his cottage-home
Under the high green hill,
I foamed and dashed as the quick stroke splashed,
And he worked his eager will.
But ho! ho!—I looked for it so!
He leapt to my green great arm,
And felt how cold was my deep sea fold,
And chilled with a strange alarm,
Did he deem me mild when the blue sky smiled,
Fierce only in stormy strife?
A boat ye sent—and a life ye lent—
Ho! I kept the warm young life!
Ho! ho! fond fools would ye know
How I staid the panting breath,
And weighed on the breast of the one ye loved best
And dragged him down to his death:—
Down in the green where no sun could be seen
To a death in the sea-weed and shells:—
Down out of sight of the sweet sunlight,
Out of sound of the clear town bells?
Ho! he struggled sore for the fading shore,
And fought with his failing strength,
But I swore he should die, and I smothered his cry,
And the life was mine at length.
Ho! take the bark back without rent or wrack,
Pale mourners along the strand!
A boatman and boat to the sea came out,
But only a boat to land!
How I staid the panting breath,
And weighed on the breast of the one ye loved best
And dragged him down to his death:—
211
To a death in the sea-weed and shells:—
Down out of sight of the sweet sunlight,
Out of sound of the clear town bells?
Ho! he struggled sore for the fading shore,
And fought with his failing strength,
But I swore he should die, and I smothered his cry,
And the life was mine at length.
Ho! take the bark back without rent or wrack,
Pale mourners along the strand!
A boatman and boat to the sea came out,
But only a boat to land!
Bentley's Miscellany, 1855.
| Griselda | |