- LOST
THE purple waves recede,
The wings of the sunset sink —
Sea-birds, sea-foam, sea-weed
Are lost on the world's brink,
The flowing darkness covers the deep
And I weep — and I weep!
Oh, desperate memory!
Oh, hopeless, bitter cry!
She is dead who was all my life to me,
And the wind goes heedless by!
Lost! Lost! Lost!
She can never hear me again!
Under the tides of the sea she is tossed
And her tangled hair drifts round her head
And her tender eyelids are closed and dead.
She can never hear me again!
Can it be so?
Can such things be,
As the things that have been between her and me,
And the waters flow on eternally?
Better had neither of us been born!
Oh darkness, darkness, do not stir,
One word, only one word with her
One little word, before the dawn!
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1924.
The author died in 1963, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.