Poems (Larcom)/A Sea Glimpse
A SEA GLIMPSE.
HIGH tide, and the year at ebb:The sea is a dream to-day: The sky is a gossamer web Of sapphire, and pearl, and gray:
A veil over rock and boat; A breath on the tremulous blue, Where the dim sails lie afloat, Or, unaware, slip from view.
They veer to the rosy ray; They dusk to the violet shade; Like a thought they flit away; Like a foolish hope, they fade.
But listen! a sudden plash! A ship is heaving in sight, With a stir, and a noisy dash Of the salt foam, seething white.
Tar-grimed and weather-stained, The sailors shout from her deck: Naught of the sky blue-veined, Or the dreamy waves they reck.
And the sunburnt girl, who stands Where her feet on the wet wrack slip, Eyes shaded with lithe, brown hands,— She sees but the coming ship.