Page:Studies in Song - Swinburne (1880).djvu/193

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BY THE NORTH SEA.
181

6.

Firm and fast where all is cloud that changes

Cloud-clogged sunlight, cloud by sunlight thinned,
Stern and sweet, above the sand-hill ranges
Watch the towers and tombs of men that sinned
Once, now calm as earth whose only change is
Wind, and light, and wind, and cloud, and wind.

7.

Out and in and out the sharp straits wander,

In and out and in the wild way strives,
Starred and paved and lined with flowers that squander
Gold as golden as the gold of hives,
Salt and moist and multiform: but yonder,
See, what sign of life or death survives?