Song of the Sea-Wind

When the sun sets over the long blue wave

 I spring from my couch of rest,

And I hurtle and boom over leagues of foam

 That toss in the weltering west,

I pipe a hymn to the headlands high,

 My comrades forevermore,

And I chase the tricksy curls of foam

 O'er the glimmering sandy shore.

The moon is my friend on clear, white nights

 When I ripple her silver way,

And whistle blithely about the rocks

 Like an elfin thing at play;

But anon I ravin with cloud and mist

 And wail 'neath a curdled sky,

When the reef snarls yon like a questing beast,

 And the frightened ships go by.

I scatter the dawn across the sea

 Like wine of amber flung

From a crystal goblet all far and fine

 Where the morning star is hung;

I blow from east and I blow from west

 Wherever my longing be-

The wind of the land is a hindered thing

 But the ocean wind is free!