Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONGS OF THE SEA CHILDREN: 26 by BLISS CARMAN

First Line: TO-NIGHT I HEAR THE RAINBIRDS
Last Line: AND LEAVES OF THE WORD UNSAID.
Subject(s): DREAMS;

To-night I hear the rainbirds
Piercing the silver gloom;
The scent of the sea-blown lilacs
Wanders across my room.
Caught in their wake I follow
The drift of memory;
Once more the summer twilight
Settles upon the sea.
I shut my eyes and see you
Under the lilacs stand,
While the soft mists of sea-rain
Are blowing in to land.
Your little hands steal upward,
Our fingers interlace;
And through the driving sea-dark
I feel your burning face.
One little hour of heaven
Lost in a single kiss;
And then we two forever
The castaways of bliss.
To-night the scent of lilacs
Comes up to me again,
And ghosts of buried summers
Walk with the lonely rain.
But ah, what rooftree shelters
To-night the dear black head?
Only the sea wind answers --
And leaves of the word unsaid.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net