Classic Poem

Child , dream not overlong
How the swift-following breakers throng
In bright disorder up the sands a-fret;
Forget, forget
The salt that stings the lips, the sea-wind's violent song.
'Twixt coast and coast unending war is rolled;
But in your midland meadows night shall spread
A starry peace above your head,
And love untold
About your heart her sheltering wings shall fold.

Beneath her covering wings your heart shall bide
Yet in sleep's dim-lit landscape hide
Outlaws of memory —
Odours of weed, the surf's monotony
Under the cliff's dark side. . . .
I know, I know: like passion stirs in me;
Our blood must answer still the unseen tide,
And still our finite hearts thirst for the infinite sea.