Sara Teasdale, comp. (1884–1933).
The Answering Voice: One Hundred Love Lyrics by Women. 1917. | | | | Sea Song | | By Laurence Hope |
| | | AGAINST the planks of the cabin side | |
| (So slight a thing between them and me), | |
| The great waves thundered and throbbed and sighed, | |
| The great green waves of the Indian Sea! | |
| |
| Your face was white as the foam is white, | 5 |
| Your hair was curled as the waves are curled, | |
| I would we had steamed and reached that night | |
| The sea’s last edge, the end of the world. | |
| |
| The wind blew in through the open port, | |
| So freshly joyous and salt and free, | 10 |
| Your hair it lifted, your lips it sought, | |
| And then swept back to the open sea. | |
| |
| The engines throbbed with their constant beat; | |
| Your heart was nearer, and all I heard; | |
| Your lips were salt, but I found them sweet, | 15 |
| While, acquiescent, you spoke no word. | |
| |
| So straight you lay in your narrow berth, | |
| Rocked by the waves; and you seemed to be | |
| Essence of all that is sweet on earth, | |
| Of all that is sad and strange at sea. | 20 |
| |
| And you were white as the foam is white, | |
| Your hair was curled as the waves are curled. | |
| Ah! had we but sailed and reached that night, | |
| The sea’s last edge, the end of the world! | | | | |
|
|
