Verses (Baughan)/Pebbles
PEBBLES
Pebbles, pebbles by the sea,
Is it, I wonder, better to be
Snatch’d away by the hurrying waves,
Swallow’d down to the rolling caves,
Where the mad water wrestles and raves:
Dash’d upon rocks, champ'd amid foam,
Toss’d and turn’d,
Trampled and churn’d,
Spued out at last on the self-same shore,
Flung back awhile to the self-same home,
—Not the same pebbles as before!
But smooth’d and rounded and jewel bright,
A line of laughter, a dance of light,
The shore’s glory, the sun’s delight:
Or is it better, high and dry
Out of the great sea’s reach to lie?
Night by night and day by day
From the wild waves hid away:
On a landward ledge to stay,
Never fretted, jostled, hurl’d
With a jarring crash,
And a sharp splash,
From the surety and the peace
Of your never-changing world:
Comfortable, safe, at ease:
—Sore to the eye, sharp to the hand,
Stark upon the weary strand
Like bleach’d bones in an unslaked land?