By The Sea

Bright skies of summer o’er the deep,

   And soft salt air along the land,

The blue wave, lisping in its sleep,

   Sinks gently on the yellow sand;

And gray-winged seagulls slowly sweep

   O’er scattered bush and white-limbed tree

Where the red cliffs like bastions stand

   To front the salvos of the sea,

Now lulled by its own melody.

Yonder the rising waters ride,

   O’er ironstone masses, celled and worn;

There, gnarled and bent by wind and tide,

   A single mangrove stands forlorn,

Alone in melancholy pride

   A symbol of the soul of man

In Life’s wild surges tossed and torn,

   That yearns amid the battle’s van

For the vast good it may not scan.

Along this silent shining sand

   Come, brother of my heart, with me,

Tho’ I have never felt thine hand

   And tho’ thine eyes I ne’er may see,

Yet somewhere or by sea or land

   Thine heart and mine keep equal beat,

And in Life’s strange eternity

   Responsive souls perchance may meet,

And know each other ere they greet.

Begone regret and carking care

   That to the murky world belong

The chimes of earth and sea and air

   Ring softened here to elfin song.

Come, friend of solitude, to where

   The low dark jetty meets the blaze

Of sky and waters slumbering long,

   Here let us dream while ocean plays

The mystic chants of golden days.