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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? | |
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| O Earth, you gave me all I have, | 5 |
| I love you, I love you, oh what have I | |
| That I can give you in return— | |
| Except my body after I die? | |
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II. “I THOUGHT OF YOU”
I thought of you and how you love this beauty, | |
| And walking up the long beach all alone, | 10 |
| I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder | |
| As you and I once heard their monotone. | |
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| 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 | 15 |
| Before you hear that sound again with me. | |
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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; | 20 |
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| Laughter and hearts so high | |
| That the spirit flew off free, | |
| Lifting into the sky, | |
| Diving into the sea; | |
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| Oh day of fire and sun | 25 |
| Like a crystal burning, | |
| Slow days go one by one, | |
| But you have no returning. | |
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IV. WHEN DEATH IS OVER
If there is any life when death is over, | |
| These tawny beaches will know much of me, | 30 |
| I shall come back, as constant and as changeful | |
| As the unchanging, many-colored sea. | |
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| 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 | 35 |
Stand on the sun-swept dunes and call my name.
The Bookman | |
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