Sea-Gifts

Give thou a gift to me From thy treasure-house, O sea! Said a red-lipped laughing girl While the summer yet was young; And the sea laughed back and flung At her feet a priceless pearl. Give thou a gift to me From thy treasure-house, O sea! Said the maiden once again On a night of wind and rain. Like a ghost the moon above her Stared through winding-sheets of cloud. On the sand in sea-weed shroud, Lay the pale corpse of her lover. Which is better, gain or loss? Which is nobler, crown or cross? We shall know these things, maybe, When the dead rise from the sea.