On Monomoy
Reading edition
Gigantic finger, joint by joint, Thrust out in warning from the land To lurking shoals, along your point We tread a skeleton of sand, Till at the end we seem to be Where all the world dissolves in sea On Monomoy. O’er Stone Horse shoal and Pollock Rip The sullen tides sweep on apace Where many a gallant sailing ship Has found her final resting place; But of the dead - no man may say Till redly dawns the judgment day On Monomoy. For fishermen tell ghastly tales Of wrecks and shuddering moons that mark Red murder done, and spectral hails Of Yo-Hoes keening from the dark! So in the night when breakers moan Fear trails his steps who walks alone On Monomoy. Waif of the seas and old Cape Cod Where Gosnold voyaged long ago, Where bold Champlain in armor trod, What tales the muttering undertow Could Whisper - or the sea birds scream To brooding dune and marsh adream On Monomoy.