The Sea

Her cheeks were white, her eyes were wild,

Her heart was with her sea-gone child.

“Men say you know and love the sea?

It is ten days, my child left me;

Ten days, and still he doth not come,

And I am weary of my home.”

I thought of waves that ran the deep

And flashed like rabbits, when they leap,

The white part of their tails; the glee

Of captains that take brides to sea,

And own the ships they steer; how seas

Played leapfrog over ships with ease.

The great Sea-Wind, so rough and kind;

Ho, ho! his strength; the great Sea-wind

Blows iron tons across the sea!

Ho, ho! his strength; how wild and free!

He breaks the waves, to our amaze,

Into ten thousand little sprays!

“Nay, have no fear”; I laughed with joy,

“That you have lost a sea-gone boy;

The Sea’s wild horses, they are far

More safe than Land’s tamed horses are;

They kick with padded hoofs, and bite

With teeth that leave no marks in sight.