Flame and shadow / Sara Teasdale [electronic text]

BY THE SEA
IX

THE UNCHANGING

SUN-SWEPT beaches with a light wind blowing From the immense blue circle of the sea, And the soft thunder where long waves whiten— These were the same for Sappho as for me.

Two thousand years—much has gone by forever, Change takes the gods and ships and speech of men— But here on the beaches that time passes over The heart aches now as then.

JUNE NIGHT

OH Earth, you are too dear to-night, How can I sleep while all around Floats rainy fragrance and the far Deep voice of the ocean that talks to the ground?

Oh Earth, you gave me all I have, I love you, I love you,—oh what have I That I can give you in return— Except my body after I die?

"LIKE BARLEY BENDING"

LIKE barley bending In low fields by the sea, Singing in hard wind Ceaselessly;

Like barley bending And rising again, So would I, unbroken, Rise from pain;

So would I softly, Day long, night long, Change my sorrow Into song.

"OH DAY OF FIRE AND SUN"

OH day of fire and sun, Pure as a naked flame, Blue sea, blue sky and dun Sands where he spoke my name;

Laughter and hearts so high That the spirit flew off free, Lifting into the sky Diving into the sea;

Oh day of fire and sun Like a crystal burning, Slow days go one by one, But you have no returning.

"I THOUGHT OF YOU"

I THOUGHT of you and how you love this beauty, And walking up the long beach all alone I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder As you and I once heard their monotone.

Around me were the echoing dunes, beyond me The cold and sparkling silver of the sea— We two will pass through death and ages lengthen Before you hear that sound again with me.

ON THE DUNES

IF there is any life when death is over, These tawny beaches will know much of me, I shall come back, as constant and as changeful As the unchanging, many-colored sea.

If life was small, if it has made me scornful, Forgive me; I shall straighten like a flame In the great calm of death, and if you want me Stand on the sea-ward dunes and call my name.

SPRAY

I KNEW you thought of me all night, I knew, though you were far away; I felt your love blow over me As if a dark wind-riven sea Drenched me with quivering spray.

There are so many ways to love And each way has its own delight— Then be content to come to me Only as spray the beating sea Drives inland through the night.

IF DEATH IS KIND

PERHAPS if Death is kind, and there can be returning, We will come back to earth some fragrant night, And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white.

We will come down at night to these resounding beaches And the long gentle thunder of the sea, Here for a single hour in the wide starlight We shall be happy, for the dead are free.