The green sea surges up to land;
I feel its salt breath on my cheek;
In deep-throated tones it seems to speak
As it falls thundering, seething on the sand.
The wild gulls circling sweep and cry;
A thin mist veils the crimson west;
The great, red sun sinks swiftly down to rest;
A dying flame crawls flickering up the sky.
Deep darkness, and the sullen boom
Of sea receding into dark;
I hear a faint, “Hoy, heave hoy!” I mark
A vessel's lights that pierce the gloom.
Night! and remoteness of the stars;
Vast, unrevealed infinitude
Of ocean, and the interlude
Of sobbing from the sandy bars!