Day by day, he haunted the Battery, anxiously searching the faces of the incoming passengers, asking some of them for tidings of his daughter, and always believing that the next ship would bring her back. He became a familiar figure, for he was almost always there—a bent, shrunken little man, white-haired, leaning heavily upon his cane, asking questions in a thin piping voice, and straining his dim eyes forever toward the unsounded waters, from whence the idol of his heart never came. For out within those waters, cruel, changeless, She sleeps, beyond all rage of earth or sea; A smile upon her dear lips, dumb, but waiting, And I—I hear the sea-voice calling me. She sleeps, beyond all rage of earth or sea; And I—I hear the sea-voice calling me. [Pg 75] [Pg 75] The Sea-Voice Beyond the sands I hear the sea-voice calling With passion all but human in its pain, While from my eyes the bitter tears are falling, And all the summer land seems blind with rain; For out within those waters, cruel, changeless, She sleeps, beyond all rage of earth or sea, A smile upon her dear lips, dumb, but waiting, And I—I hear the sea-voice calling me. The tide comes in. The moonlight flood and glory Of that unresting surge thrill earth with bliss, And I can hear the passionate sweet story Of waves that waited round her for her kiss. [Pg 76]Sweetheart, they love you; silent and unseeing, Old Ocean holds his court around you there, And while I reach out through the dark to find you His fingers twine the sea-weed in your hair. The tide goes out and in the dawn’s new splendour The dreams of dark first fade, then pass away, And I awake from visions soft and tender To face the shuddering agony of day For out within those waters, cruel, changeless, She sleeps, beyond all rage of earth or sea; A smile upon her dear lips, dumb, but waiting, And I—I hear the sea-voice calling me. B With passion all but human in its pain, And all the summer land seems blind with rain;
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