Sunrise along Shore

Sunrise along Shore

Original Text
L. M. Montgomery, The Watchman and Other Poems (Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916): 29-30. PS 8525 O68W3 Robarts Library.
1Athwart the harbor lingers yet
2    The ashen gleam of breaking day,
3And where the guardian cliffs are set
4    The noiseless shadows steal away;
5But all the winnowed eastern sky
6    Is flushed with many a tender hue,
7    And spears of light are smiting through
8The ranks where huddled sea-mists fly.
9Across the ocean, wan and gray,
10    Gay fleets of golden ripples come,
11For at the birth-hour of the day
12    The roistering, wayward winds are dumb.
13The rocks that stretch to meet the tide
14    Are smitten with a ruddy glow,
15    And faint reflections come and go
16Where fishing boats at anchor ride.
17All life leaps out to greet the light --
18    The shining sea-gulls dive and soar,
19The swallows whirl in dizzy flight,
21From every purple landward hill
22    The banners of the morning fly,
23    But on the headlands, dim and high,
24The fishing hamlets slumber still.
25One boat alone beyond the bar
26    Is sailing outward blithe and free,
27To carry sturdy hearts afar
28    Across those wastes of sparkling sea;
29Staunchly to seek what may be won
30    From out the treasures of the deep,
31    To toil for those at home who sleep
32And be the first to greet the sun.

Notes

20] sandpeeps: sandpipers. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1901
Publication Notes
Youth's Companion (Nov. 28, 1901): 630
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.