SEA LYRICS

We heard the breakers clash and boom;

We saw them plunge and writhe and rise,

And toss great flakes of ashen spume

High toward the ashen skies.

Out of the welter of the east

One gaunt barque like a spectre bore;

The mad wind trumpeted, then ceased,

Then trumpeted once more.

A mist crept landward, the spent wraith

Of tempests raging far a-lee;

Then day died like an outworn faith,

And night fell on the sea.

O'erhead, the iridescence of the stars,

Ray blending softly with refulgent ray;

Below, above the harbor's hidden bars,

The crumbling iridescence of the spray.

Before, a beacon flashing level lines,

Seemingly poised upon the far sea-verge;

Behind, the night wind in the oaks and pines,

Crooning in answer to the crooning surge.