Poems (Howard)/Crescent Beach

by Hattie Howard

Crescent Beach.

O Crescent Beach! That day shall be
A treasured one in memory,
That lured me from my distant home,
Upon thy lovely shores to roam;

To linger, with enraptured glance
O'er ocean 's limitless expanse,
Half-wishing that, before my eyes,
Fair Aphrodite might arise,

Or, from their hidden, watery cells
In myriad rainbow-colored shells,
Nereides, with dripping locks,
Might grace the rough, Neptunian rocks,

Defying, in their revelry,
That ancient monarch of the sea,
Whose trident marks his lordly reign
O'er every creature of the main.

I watched the countless-dimpled smile
Illuminate thy waters, while
The wish, unconscious, half-expressed,
That I might find therein sweet rest.

I'd just as soon, beneath the wave
Return my life to Him who gave,
Or let my bones forever bleach
Upon the sands of Crescent Beach.

Throughout the years, each breaking wave
Should be a tear-drop o'er my grave,
And every scintillating gem
Unite to sing my requiem.

Of Him who taught beside the sea
Of ever-blessed Galilee,
His true disciples meet to teach
Beside the waves at Crescent Beach.

Resounding voices on the shore
Commingle with the ocean's roar,
And wonderful sweet harmonies
Are caught by every passing breeze.

The fragrant, flower-besprinkled sod
Re-echoes prayer and praise to God;
And Crescent Beach, in beauty crowned,
Becomes enchanted, hallowed ground.

They who the Saviour's name revere
Shall here unite from year to year,
Till o'er our land the fame shall reach
Of Christians met at Crescent Beach.