Poems (Rossetti, 1901)/A Fisher-Wife
A FISHER-WIFE.
THE soonest mended, nothing said; And help may rise from east or west But my two hands are lumps of lead, My heart sits leaden in my breast.
O north wind swoop not from the north, O south wind linger in the south, Oh come not raving raging forth, To bring my heart into my mouth;
For I've a husband out at sea, Afloat on feeble planks of wood; He does not know what fear may be; I would have told him if I could.
I would have locked him in my arms, I would have hid him in my heart; For oh! the waves are fraught with harms. And he and I so far apart.