Grant H. Code. Sea Quatrains. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Sea Quatrains

By Grant H. Code


I TOO fast the silly white-caps run
Their helter-skelter races;
They stumble when the goal is won
And fall upon their faces.

II A purple light is shaken over	5
The greener ocean shadows,
Like clover on the cooler depths
Of grass in upland meadows,

III The sea hangs kelp upon the sand
Like garlands on a grave,	10
Mourning the dead and silent land
With every living wave.

IV The breakers thunder in the night
With which the sea is drenched.
Only one plunging line is white;	15
Even the stars are quenched.

V The fairest ship ever a wreck
Had not so white a sail
As this fair wave cast up to break,
Driven before the gale.	20