English poetry

PoetsBiographiesPoems by ThemesRandom Poem
The Rating of PoetsThe Rating of Poems

Poem by Dora Sigerson Shorter


When You Are on the Sea


How can I laugh or dance as others do,
   Or ply my rock or reel?
My heart will still return to dreams of you
   Beside my spinning-wheel.

My little dog he cried out in the dark,
   He would not whisht for me:
I took him to my side—why did he bark
   When you were on the sea?

I fear the red cock—if he crow to-night—
   I keep him close and warm,
’Twere ill with me, if he should wake in fright
   And you out in the storm.

I dare not smile for fear my laugh would ring
   Across your dying ears;
O, if you, drifting, drowned, should hear me sing
   And think I had not tears.

I never thought the sea could wake such waves,
   Nor that such winds could be;
I never wept when other eyes grew blind
   For some one on the sea.

But now I fear and pray all things for you,
   How many dangers be!
I set my wheel aside, what can I do
   When you are on the sea?



Dora Sigerson Shorter


Dora Sigerson Shorter's other poems:
  1. The Kine of My Father
  2. The Fairy Changeling
  3. The Blow Returned
  4. You Will Not Come Again
  5. To Donneen


Poem to print Print

993 Views



Last Poems


To Russian version


Ðåéòèíã@Mail.ru

English Poetry. E-mail eng-poetry.ru@yandex.ru