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| ON Calais Sands the gray began, | |
| Then rosy red above they gray; | |
| The morn with many a scarlet van | |
| Leaped, and the world was glad with May! | |
| The little waves along the bay | 5 |
| Broke white upon the shelving strands; | |
| The sea-mews flitted white as they | |
| On Calais Sands! | |
| |
| On Calais Sands must man with man | |
| Wash honor clean in blood to-day; | 10 |
| On spaces wet from waters wan | |
| How white the flashing rapiers play,— | |
| Parry, riposte! and lunge! The fray | |
| Shifts for a while, then mournful stands | |
| The Victor: life ebbs fast away | 15 |
| On Calais Sands! | |
| |
| On Calais Sands a little space | |
| Of silence, then the plash and spray, | |
| The sound of eager waves that ran | |
| To kiss the perfumed locks astray, | 20 |
| To touch these lips that ne’er said “Nay,” | |
| To dally with the helpless hands, | |
| Till the deep sea in silence lay | |
| On Calais Sands! | |
| |
| Between the lilac and the may | 25 |
| She waits her love from alien lands; | |
| Her love is colder than the clay | |
| On Calais Sands! | |
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