Poems (Kennedy)/Low Tide
LOW TIDE
A STRETCH of beach bared to the sinking sun, Rocks slimed with sea-weed, and a wet Black spar, lone derelict from some old wreck The storms claimed for a sea-god's debt.Nothing but ugliness where'er I tracked the sand— Nothing but ooze and mud. My dim eyes ached. Then suddenly amid the swirl Of broken shells and weeds and dreary drift I found a white and priceless pearl, Left for me by the tide.
Long days and nights bereft of sun and stars, Gray skies with grayer thoughts and fears, And Failure, spectre-like and evil-eyed, That haunted all the shadowed years.Nothing in life but heart ache and despair— Nothing but toil and pain—My soul was sick! Then sudden in the gray above A rift of blue; and 'mid the close-set thorns I saw, full blown, the rose of Love Waiting my outstretched hand.