BY THE SEA
O Friend, we meet and feel as free
As two young children. By the sea
We sift the sand. From where we sit
The line of shore seems infinite.
The landward little dunes that lie
In drifted shapes against the sky,
Divide and sever and seclude
Us from the scenes that could intrude
Upon our chosen time of pleasure:
In the ocean's louder measure,
Speech is tempered add we dare
To voice perplexities the air
Transmutes to clearer truth for us.
Our love is new and venturous,
Permits veiled intervals and terms
Of silence; in each pause affirms
Implicit sympathies. Our words
Take wing, float seaward, like the birds
Upon the wind. The birds and love
Are free to soar to climes above.
.......
But there are white waves tethered under
Wanton wings. Are those, I wonder,
Like our thoughts,—less fugitive,
As two young children. By the sea
We sift the sand. From where we sit
The line of shore seems infinite.
The landward little dunes that lie
In drifted shapes against the sky,
Divide and sever and seclude
Us from the scenes that could intrude
Upon our chosen time of pleasure:
In the ocean's louder measure,
Speech is tempered add we dare
To voice perplexities the air
Transmutes to clearer truth for us.
Our love is new and venturous,
Permits veiled intervals and terms
Of silence; in each pause affirms
Implicit sympathies. Our words
Take wing, float seaward, like the birds
Upon the wind. The birds and love
Are free to soar to climes above.
.......
But there are white waves tethered under
Wanton wings. Are those, I wonder,
Like our thoughts,—less fugitive,
[11]
