Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
St. Andrews Bay
Night
1AH, listen through the music, from the shore,
2The 'melancholy long-withdrawing roar';
3Beneath the Minster, and the windy caves,
4The wide North Ocean, marshalling his waves!
5Even so forlorn -- in worlds beyond our ken --
6May sigh the seas that are not heard of men;
7Even so forlorn, prophetic of man's fate,
8Sounded the cold sea-wave disconsolate,
9When none but God might hear the boding tone,
10As God shall hear the long lament alone,
11When all is done, when all the tale is told,
12And the gray sea-wave echoes as of old!
Morning
13This was the burden of the night,
14 The saying of the sea,
15But lo! the hours have brought the light,
16The laughter of the waves, the flight
17Of dipping sea-birds, foamy white,
18 That are so glad to be!
19'Forget'! the happy creatures cry,
20 'Forget night's monotone,
21With us be glad in sea and sky,
22The days are thine, the days that fly,
23The days God gives to know Him by,
24 And not the night alone!'
Notes
2] An allusion to Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach."
3] the Minster: St. Andrew's Cathedral, then in ruins.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang, ed. Mrs. Lang, 4 vols. (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1923): I, 16-17. British Library 011645.ee.47
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 2001
Recent editing: 2:2002/2/20
Form note: 1. couplets; 2. abaaabcdcccd
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