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Sonnets Round the Coast

by H. D. Rawnsley
  

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42

XXII. FOAM-FRINGE AT GURNARD'S HEAD.

Treryn, the castled, stands towards the tide,
Grey-lichened, gold-incrusted, green with moss,
And all day long, the waves about her toss
White arms of foam, as jealous of her pride,
But ever down the darkened ledges slide
The baffled waters. Though no more the cross
Shines o'er the flaming torch to save from loss,
Her mystic strength in storm has never died.
How like a soul that in the tides of sin
Beats back the waves of passion, and secure
Makes of those tides new power for innocence,
Does this victorious headland seem to win
From out the raging waves a silver fence,
Wreathed of white foam-bells, peaceable and pure.