Rainbows (Custance)/A Sea Song
For works with similar titles, see A Sea Song.
A Sea Song
A stoney shore where green waves curl and breakIn opalescent stars of foam, and shakeThe golden silence with their siren songOf strange sea-voices, calling all day long,Seeming to say "Oh! mortal, come and sleep!The world is full of tears, its ways are steep,Come down before the future saddens theeAnd sleep among the rainbows in the sea!"There in the shadow of the cliff I layIn the soft stillness of an autumn day,Listened and dreamed until the little caresThat steal upon the spirit unawares . . . And all the tangled mysteries of fate,Man's love and laughter, tears and hopes, and hate,Were half forgotten. In those perfect hoursThe bright sea tossed me blue and silver flowersTo play with; and a lark with sudden flightFlew sunward, singing loud for my delight,And I became a princess, even I,Under my turquoise coloured tent, the sky,My heart a-thrill with wonder and wild glee,And for my lord and lover, the great sea.