The Lullaby
A Lover Speaks
I.
The great white moon is wandering over the sky,
And she sings as she goes; 't is an ancient lullaby:
The rocking sea looks up, for he hears her song,
And a dropping stillness follows the sound along.
'T is a spell for his lonely heart that she sings so low;
Stiller, and stiller, and stiller the billows grow;
Calmer, and calmer, the passionate heart of the deep,
For she croons, and croons, till she croons him away to sleep.
II.
And I and my heart are alone by the quieted sea,
And my heart is burning and beating and wild in me;
But I know a white lady, magnetic, and lustrous, and dear,
With a tranquil and delicate voice I am starving to hear;
And I would she were singing, singing, singing so low,
Stiller, and stiller, and stiller my heart would grow--
My turbulent heart, with its surge like the surge of the deep,
Would be solaced, and silenced, and sung, like the sea, to sleep.
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