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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LOW TIDE AT ST. ANDREWS (NEW BRUNSWICK) by EMILY PAULINE JOHNSON

First Line: THE LONG RED FLATS STRETCH OPEN TO THE SKY
Last Line: THE SILENCE OF THE SANDS WHEN TIDES ARE LOW.
Subject(s): SEA; SUMMER; OCEAN;

(NEW BRUNSWICK)

THE long red flats stretch open to the sky,
Breathing their moisture on the August air.
The seaweeds cling with flesh-like fingers where
The rocks give shelter that the sands deny;
And wrapped in all her summer harmonies
St. Andrews sleeps beside her sleeping seas.

The far-off shores swim blue and indistinct,
Like half-lost memories of some old dream.
The listless waves that catch each sunny gleam
Are idling up the waterways land-linked,
And, yellowing along the harbour's breast,
The light is leaping shoreward from the west.

And naked-footed children, tripping down,
Light with young laughter, daily come at eve
To gather dulse and sea clams and then heave
Their loads, returning laden to the town,
Leaving a strange grey silence when they go,—-
The silence of the sands when tides are low.



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