When I was once at sea,
And swam in the sun of swim,
Where hopes kissed the flowers,
With the long sway of ships,
Unlatching a fathom of sea,
And straight to the cliffs,
Tides dropping the years,
The sun burnt my heart to white,
The sugar-blossoms—
A lark breasted mist,
And the tremble of waves,
And tides do flow through me,
To hear once more
With a distant enemy’s song,
That green of the grass,
And all that each time I see
When my heart lifts and blows,
Together with a bird—
And rain shapes too bright to time!

Alone, .
And cold as a bone.

• Edna St Vincent Millay