Like nothing of his. There might be Tristram dead
By stealth, yet there would always be that face—
Isolt’s white face. He saw it now, and said,
“I am not looking to you for much regard,
Though you might let your eyes, if not your tongue,
Say where I am. Do they know that I am here?
Why are you looking at the sea so long?”
By stealth, yet there would always be that face—
Isolt’s white face. He saw it now, and said,
“I am not looking to you for much regard,
Though you might let your eyes, if not your tongue,
Say where I am. Do they know that I am here?
Why are you looking at the sea so long?”
“The sea was never so still as this before,”
She said. “It is like something after life,
And it is not like death. That ship out there
Is like two ships, and one of them a shadow.
When you came, I was asking if the shadow
Might not, if only we knew shadows better,
Be the real ship. I am not very well;
And lately I’ve had fancies. Do not mind them.
I have never seen the sea so still as this.”
She said. “It is like something after life,
And it is not like death. That ship out there
Is like two ships, and one of them a shadow.
When you came, I was asking if the shadow
Might not, if only we knew shadows better,
Be the real ship. I am not very well;
And lately I’ve had fancies. Do not mind them.
I have never seen the sea so still as this.”
“Perhaps the sea is like ourselves,” Mark said,
“And has as much to say of storms and calms
That shake or make it still, as we have power
To shake or to be still. I do not know.
I was just saying it for no harm or reason.
I shall do no more harm to either of you
“And has as much to say of storms and calms
That shake or make it still, as we have power
To shake or to be still. I do not know.
I was just saying it for no harm or reason.
I shall do no more harm to either of you
[ 177 ]
