The Sea
A ballad
My sleeping soul wakes
As the town’s vespers
Climb the stairless sky,
And the sea whispers.
The rushing waves crash
Upon the craggy
Shores of consciousness,
And the sea whispers.
Like an ancient song
Or some sailor’s dirge,
Which the pale waves hum
As the seas surge.
Through the hidden grottoes
And cavern waters —
The countless demesnes
Through which she whispers.
Through magic seashells
On some antique shore
Echoing, a thousand words
Of sage like lore.
On the earthly sod,
Of buried treasures
And their sunken ships
She quiet whispers.
Like a forlorn nymph
Weeping sorrowful rivers
In some hallowed cave,
As the sea whispers:
Hoping for love’s tidings,
Her quiet vespers
On the boundless seas
Softly, she whispers.
Like a sinking swan
With broken feathers
Whose gentle soul flies
On the sea’s whispers.
So my dreaming spirit
Slumber enters
As clouds veil the moon,
And the sea whispers.
By David B. Gosselin
