Landbound

Bring me one breath from the deep salt sea, Ye vagrant upland airs! Over your forest and field and lea, From the windy deeps that have mothered me, To the heart of one who cares.

Clear to the peace of the sunlit park, You bring with your evening lull The vesper song of the meadow lark; But my soul is sick for the seething dark, And the scream of a wind-blown gull.

And bring to me from the ocean's breast No crooning lullaby; But the shout of a bleak storm-riven crest As it shoulders up in the sodden West And hurtles down the sky.

That, breathing deep, I may feel the sweep Of the wind and the driving rain. For so I know that my heart will leap To meet the call of the strident deep, And will thrill to life again.

D.H.