Sea-Song

To-day was a sea-gull day, dear heart, to-day was a sea-gull day, With a touch of wind, and the beat of surf, and the breath of the driven spray Blue of the sky, and blue of the sea, and the white clouds scudding far, And my longings swept to the sky-line dim like moths to a candle star. To-day was a sea-gull day, dear heart, that sparkled with sun-flecked blue, But it bound my heart with a wave-linked chain and bore it away from you. It stole it far from my hearth and you, though we two sat side by side, For my heart it tugged like an anchored ship that strains with the seaward tide. And when we wandered back home, dear heart, so soberly wandered home, My eyes were blind with the sun-washed gold, and dim with the lunging foam, And my heart came swaggering on beside, from the wake of the distant ships, With the lilt of a deep sea chanty-strain like wine on its reckless lips!