Eight Harvard Poets/Sea-burial

SEA-BURIAL

OVER the sands the swollen tide came creeping,
Over the sands beneath the gleaming moon;
At first it seemed a child's uncertain croon,
And then a sound of many mourners weeping.
Then all at once a crested wave was sweeping
Around the still form in the moonlight there,
Twining its silver fingers in her hair. …
And yet it could not rouse her from her sleeping.

With dawn the tide went seaward, bearing her
In its strong arms that clung so tenderly,
And laid her in a strange place far away
Where the tall seaweeds rise and never stir. …
And there she sleeps, while pass alternately
The brooding night and the green luminous day.