William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962). Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1920.

Sea Sand

I. JUNE NIGHT

O EARTH you are too dear to-night,

How can I sleep, while all around

Floats rainy fragrance and the far

Deep voice of the ocean that talks to the ground?

O Earth, you gave me all I have,

I love you, I love you, oh what have I

That I can give you in return—

Except my body after I die?

II. “I THOUGHT OF YOU”

I thought of you and how you love this beauty,

And walking up the long beach all alone,

I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder

As you and I once heard their monotone.

Around me were the echoing-dunes, beyond me

The cold and sparkling silver of the sea—

We two will pass through death and ages lengthen

Before you hear that sound again with me.

III. “OH DAY OF FIRE AND SUN”

Oh day of fire and sun,

Pure as a naked flame,

Blue sea, blue sky and dun

Sands where he spoke my name;

Laughter and hearts so high

That the spirit flew off free,

Lifting into the sky,

Diving into the sea;

Oh day of fire and sun

Like a crystal burning,

Slow days go one by one,

But you have no returning.

IV. WHEN DEATH IS OVER

If there is any life when death is over,

These tawny beaches will know much of me,

I shall come back, as constant and as changeful

As the unchanging, many-colored sea.

If life was small, if it has made me scornful,

Forgive me; I shall straighten like a flame

In the great calm of death, and if you want me

Stand on the sun-swept dunes and call my name.

The Bookman