Churchyard by the Sea

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_CHURCHYARD_BY_THE_SEA">THE CHURCHYARD BY THE SEA.</h2> <p class="ph3">A MEMORY.</p> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Across</span> the waste of years I see</div> <div class="verse indent2">One spot for ever soft and green,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Which, shrined within my memory,</div> <div class="verse indent2">In evening glow or morning sheen,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Tells of the golden, vanished years,</div> <div class="verse indent0">When smiles came oftener far than tears.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">A churchyard by the restless sea,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where, in deep calm and dreamless sleep,</div> <div class="verse indent0">The Dead lay resting peacefully,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Unheeding the tempestuous deep;</div> <div class="verse indent0">Careless alike of sun and breeze,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Or ebbing of those changeful seas.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">And oft when shipwreck and despair</div> <div class="verse indent2">Came to the little sea-beat town,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Pale women, with dishevelled hair,</div> <div class="verse indent2">To the wild shore went hurrying down,</div> <div class="verse indent0">And tenderly dead eyes would close,</div> <div class="verse indent0">And smooth dead limbs for long repose.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">Full many a weary, storm-tossed wight,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Year after year, in quiet was laid,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Safe from the blustering storms of night,</div> <div class="verse indent2">In this green spot, and undismayed,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Slept close beside the breakers’ roar,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Whose wrath should mar his rest no more.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">And over each low-sleeping head,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where thymy turf grew green and soft,</div> <div class="verse indent0">The wild bee hummed, and rosy-red</div> <div class="verse indent2">The brier-flower bloomed, and up aloft</div> <div class="verse indent0">The fleecy clouds went drifting by</div> <div class="verse indent0">Like shades, across the summer sky.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">And ever as the years go by,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And one by one old memories creep</div> <div class="verse indent0">From out the sweet Past solemnly,</div> <div class="verse indent2">I seem to see, beside the deep,</div> <div class="verse indent0">That little, lonely, silent spot,</div> <div class="verse indent0">With many a childish dream enwrought.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse right">J. H.</div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />