Rainbows (Custance)/A Sea Song
For works with similar titles, see A Sea Song.
A Sea Song
A stoney shore where green waves curl and break
In opalescent stars of foam, and shake
The golden silence with their siren song
Of strange sea-voices, calling all day long,
Seeming to say "Oh! mortal, come and sleep!
The world is full of tears, its ways are steep,
Come down before the future saddens thee
And sleep among the rainbows in the sea!"
There in the shadow of the cliff I lay
In the soft stillness of an autumn day,
Listened and dreamed until the little cares
That steal upon the spirit unawares . . .
And all the tangled mysteries of fate,
Man's love and laughter, tears and hopes, and hate,
Were half forgotten. In those perfect hours
The bright sea tossed me blue and silver flowers
To play with; and a lark with sudden flight
Flew sunward, singing loud for my delight,
And I became a princess, even I,
Under my turquoise coloured tent, the sky,
My heart a-thrill with wonder and wild glee,
And for my lord and lover, the great sea.
In opalescent stars of foam, and shake
The golden silence with their siren song
Of strange sea-voices, calling all day long,
Seeming to say "Oh! mortal, come and sleep!
The world is full of tears, its ways are steep,
Come down before the future saddens thee
And sleep among the rainbows in the sea!"
There in the shadow of the cliff I lay
In the soft stillness of an autumn day,
Listened and dreamed until the little cares
That steal upon the spirit unawares . . .
And all the tangled mysteries of fate,
Man's love and laughter, tears and hopes, and hate,
Were half forgotten. In those perfect hours
The bright sea tossed me blue and silver flowers
To play with; and a lark with sudden flight
Flew sunward, singing loud for my delight,
And I became a princess, even I,
Under my turquoise coloured tent, the sky,
My heart a-thrill with wonder and wild glee,
And for my lord and lover, the great sea.