Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By Sonnets. VI. By the Sea-Side

James Drummond Burns (1823–1864)

RUN in, glad waves, scoop’d in transparent shells,

Which catch soft lights of emerald ere they break;

Let the small ripple fret the sand, and make

The faintest chime of music, such as dwells

Far down within the sea-conch’s murmuring cells,—

While, hovering o’er the spray, the white birds wet

Their wings, and shouting fishers draw the net

To land, and far sails glitter on the swells.

’Tis bliss to rest, the while these soft blue skies

Breathe over Earth their benison of peace,

To feel these lovely forms enchant the eyes,

And grow into the mind by slow degrees,—

Till, breathless as a woodland pool, it lies,

And sleeps above its sleeping images.