Duncan Campbell Scott

At Scarboro’ Beach

The wave is over the foaming reef
  Leaping alive in the sun,
Seaward the opal sails are blown
  Vanishing one by one.

’Tis leagues around the blue sea curve
  To the sunny coast of Spain,
And the ships that sail so deftly out
  May never come home again.

A mist is wreathed round Richmond point,
  There’s a shadow on the land,
But the sea is in the splendid sun,
  Plunging so careless and grand.

The sandpipers trip on the glassy beach,
  Ready to mount and fly;
Whenever a ripple reaches their feet
  They rise with a timorous cry.

Take care, they pipe, take care, take care,
  For this is the treacherous main,
And though you may sail so deftly out,
  You may never come home again.