ON A SUMMER SHORE.
Long years have gone, and yet it seemsBut scarce an hour ago,I lay upon a moss-grown rock,And watched the ebb and flowOf waters, where cool shades aboveGlassed in cool depths below.You stood beside me sweet and fair,A basket on your arm,Red-heaped with luscious fruit we’d pickedDown at the old shore farm;You stood and in the shore-wood madeA picture glad and warm.Like heaving pearl the blue bay rockedAgainst its limestone wall,Far off in reeling dreams of blueThe heavens seemed to fallAbout the world, and there you stood,Unconscious, queen of all.From far-off fields the low of kine,Soft bird-notes, airy streams,That stole in here, far, broken notesOf all the day’s hushed dreams;And you, one slender shaft of light,In all the world’s wide gleams.We spoke no love, for I was shy,And you were shyer then;Mine was a boy’s faint heart, and yoursStill outside of love’s ken;But such sweet moments are full rareIn barren years of men.And often when the heart is wornAnd life grows sorrow-wise,I dream again a blue, north bay,A gleam of summer skies;And by my side a young girl standsWith heaven in her eyes.You are a dream, a face, a wraith,You drift across my pain,I lock you in my sacred pastWhere all love’s ghosts remain;But life hath nought for me so sweetAs you can bring again.
Long years have gone, and yet it seemsBut scarce an hour ago,I lay upon a moss-grown rock,And watched the ebb and flowOf waters, where cool shades aboveGlassed in cool depths below.You stood beside me sweet and fair,A basket on your arm,Red-heaped with luscious fruit we’d pickedDown at the old shore farm;You stood and in the shore-wood madeA picture glad and warm.Like heaving pearl the blue bay rockedAgainst its limestone wall,Far off in reeling dreams of blueThe heavens seemed to fallAbout the world, and there you stood,Unconscious, queen of all.From far-off fields the low of kine,Soft bird-notes, airy streams,That stole in here, far, broken notesOf all the day’s hushed dreams;And you, one slender shaft of light,In all the world’s wide gleams.We spoke no love, for I was shy,And you were shyer then;Mine was a boy’s faint heart, and yoursStill outside of love’s ken;But such sweet moments are full rareIn barren years of men.And often when the heart is wornAnd life grows sorrow-wise,I dream again a blue, north bay,A gleam of summer skies;And by my side a young girl standsWith heaven in her eyes.You are a dream, a face, a wraith,You drift across my pain,I lock you in my sacred pastWhere all love’s ghosts remain;But life hath nought for me so sweetAs you can bring again.
Long years have gone, and yet it seemsBut scarce an hour ago,I lay upon a moss-grown rock,And watched the ebb and flowOf waters, where cool shades aboveGlassed in cool depths below.
You stood beside me sweet and fair,A basket on your arm,Red-heaped with luscious fruit we’d pickedDown at the old shore farm;You stood and in the shore-wood madeA picture glad and warm.
Like heaving pearl the blue bay rockedAgainst its limestone wall,Far off in reeling dreams of blueThe heavens seemed to fallAbout the world, and there you stood,Unconscious, queen of all.
From far-off fields the low of kine,Soft bird-notes, airy streams,That stole in here, far, broken notesOf all the day’s hushed dreams;And you, one slender shaft of light,In all the world’s wide gleams.
We spoke no love, for I was shy,And you were shyer then;Mine was a boy’s faint heart, and yoursStill outside of love’s ken;But such sweet moments are full rareIn barren years of men.
And often when the heart is wornAnd life grows sorrow-wise,I dream again a blue, north bay,A gleam of summer skies;And by my side a young girl standsWith heaven in her eyes.
You are a dream, a face, a wraith,You drift across my pain,I lock you in my sacred pastWhere all love’s ghosts remain;But life hath nought for me so sweetAs you can bring again.