Morning Along Shore

Hark, oh hark the elfin laughter All the little waves along, As if echoes speeding after Mocked a merry merman's song! All the gulls are out, delighting In a wild, uncharted quest­ See the first red sunshine smiting Silver sheen of wing and breast! Ho, the sunrise rainbow-hearted Steals athwart the misty brine, And the sky where clouds have parted Is a bowl of amber wine! Sweet, its cradle-lilt partaking, Dreams that hover o'er the sea, But the lyric of its waking Is a sweeter thing to me! Who would drowze in dull devotion To his ease when dark is done, And upon its breast the ocean Like a jewel wears the sun? "Up, forsake a lazy pillow!" Calls the sea from cleft and cave, Ho, for antic wind and billow When the morn is on the wave!