Poems (Coates 1916)/Volume II/Beside a Pleasant Shore

by Florence Earle Coates

For other versions of this work, see Beside a Pleasant Shore.

BESIDE A PLEASANT SHORE

I LAY upon my narrow bed,
And dreamed life's happy moments o'er;
I thought that love my footsteps led
Beside a pleasant shore.

Care for a moment loosed its grasp,
And breathing deep the fragrant brine,—
My hand locked in my lover's clasp,—
I felt his pulses throb with mine;

And dear contentment seemed my right,—
There roaming from the world apart;
I saw his eyes, I felt their light
Beam through the shadows, in my heart;

And waves, and trees—all nature—sang
A pæan by that pleasant shore.
Then I awoke, and with a pang
Remembered that we loved no more.