English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 654. The Sands of Dee |
| | | Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) |
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| ‘O MARY, go and call the cattle home, | |
| And call the cattle home, | |
| And call the cattle home | |
| Across the sands of Dee;’ | |
| The western wind was wild and dank with foam, | 5 |
| And all alone went she. | |
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| The western tide crept up along the sand, | |
| And o’er and o’er the sand, | |
| And round and round the sand, | |
| As far as eye could see. | 10 |
| The rolling mist came down and hid the land: | |
| And never home came she. | |
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| ‘Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair, | |
| A tress of golden hair, | |
| A drownèd maiden’s hair | 15 |
| Above the nets at sea? | |
| Was never salmon yet that shone so fair | |
| Among the stakes of Dee.’ | |
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| They rowed her in across the rolling foam, | |
| The cruel crawling foam, | 20 |
| The cruel hungry foam, | |
| To her grave beside the sea: | |
| But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home | |
| Across the sands of Dee. | |
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