Poem by Clinton Scollard

Sea Lyrics

  I

  We heard the breakers clash and boom;
    We saw them plunge and writhe and rise,
  And toss great flakes of ashen spume
    High toward the ashen skies.

  Out of the welter of the east
    One gaunt barque like a spectre bore;
  The mad wind trumpeted, then ceased,
    Then trumpeted once more.

  A mist crept landward, the spent wraith
    Of tempests raging far a-lee;
  Then day died like an outworn faith,
    And night fell on the sea.

  II

  O'erhead, the iridescence of the stars,
    Ray blending softly with refulgent ray;
  Below, above the harbor's hidden bars,
    The crumbling iridescence of the spray.

  Before, a beacon flashing level lines,
    Seemingly poised upon the far sea-verge;
  Behind, the night wind in the oaks and pines,
    Crooning in answer to the crooning surge.

1. The Spectral Rowers
2. The Mist and the Sea
3. Night by the Sea
4. Dawn in the Desert
5. Muckross

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