A Sea Dirge

5Pour some salt water over the floor —

6 Ugly I'm sure you'll allow it to be:

7Suppose it extended a mile or more,

8 That's very like the Sea.

9Beat a dog till it howls outright —

10 Cruel, but all very well for a spree:

11Suppose that he did so day and night,

12 That would be like the Sea.

13I had a vision of nursery-maids;

14 Tens of thousands passed by me —

15All leading children with wooden spades,

16 And this was by the Sea.

17Who invented those spades of wood?

18 Who was it cut them out of the tree?

19None, I think, but an idiot could —

20 Or one that loved the Sea.

21It is pleasant and dreamy, no doubt, to float

22 With "thoughts as boundless, and souls as free":

23But, suppose you are very unwell in the boat,

24 How do you like the Sea?

25There is an insect that people avoid

26 (Whence is derived the verb "to flee").

27Where have you been by it most annoyed?

28 In lodgings by the Sea.

29If you like your coffee with sand for dregs,

30 A decided hint of salt in your tea,

31And a fishy taste in the very eggs —

32 By all means choose the Sea.

33And if, with these dainties to drink and eat,

34 You prefer not a vestige of grass or tree,

35And a chronic state of wet in your feet,

36 Then — I recommend the Sea.

37For I have friends who dwell by the coast —

38 Pleasant friends they are to me!

39It is when I am with them I wonder most

40 That anyone likes the Sea.

41They take me a walk: though tired and stiff,

42 To climb the heights I madly agree;

43And, after a tumble or so from the cliff,

44 They kindly suggest the Sea.

45I try the rocks, and I think it cool

46 That they laugh with such an excess of glee,

47As I heavily slip into every pool

48 That skirts the cold cold Sea.