SONG OF THE SEA-WIND

WHEN the sun sets over the long blue wave i I spring from my couch of rest,

And I hurtle and boom over leagues of foam That toss in the weltering west,

I pipe a hymn to the headlands high, My comrades forevermore,

And I chase the tricksy curls of foam O’er the glimmering sandy shore.

The moon is my friend on clear, white nights When I ripple her silver way,

And whistle blithely about the rocks Like an elfin thing at play;

But anon I ravin with cloud and mist And wail ’neath a curdled sky,

When the reef snarls yon like a questing beast, And the frightened ships go by.

I scatter the dawn across the sea Like wine of amber flung

From a crystal goblet all far and fine Where the morning star is hung;

I blow from east and I blow fromwest Wherever my longing be——

The wind of the land is a hindered thing But the ocean wind is free!

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