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I BLOWN gold was the hair of the child | |
| In the wind and the sun by the sea; | |
| And the sea was silver and jade, | |
| And pearl where the breakers played— | |
| Like children strange and wild | 5 |
| In a pagan ecstasy. | |
| And the child cried out to his mother, | |
| “Oh, let me play in the sea!” | |
| But I heard the voice of the mother, | |
| Weary with waiting long: | 10 |
| “Hush, my child, come near to me— | |
| The sea is cruel and strong!” | |
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II I groped through blooms in the dark | |
| And a fragrance stirred to me, | |
| And I knew that I touched a rose, | 15 |
| Although I could not see. | |
| |
| So, for your soul I would grope | |
| In the dark, if you were dead. | |
| As I knew the rose I would know | |
| Your soul and be comforted. | 20 |
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III It seems sometimes that I have been | |
| Upon an island far at sea, | |
| Shipwrecked, alone; and I have seen | |
| White sails beyond the call of me, | |
| Have seen them pass—to what fair skies | 25 |
| Beyond the hunger of my eyes? | |
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IV The dead may know! How can we say? | |
| So, when the tomb is over me, | |
| You who in life could never give | |
| The things that with the dead may live, | 30 |
| Come all alone, and silently | |
| Give unto me at close of day | |
| A red rose for your lips I pressed | |
| So oft in dreams, and bending low, | |
| Give me a lily for your breast: | 35 |
| The dead may know! | |
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