THE MOON-CHILD
A little lonely child am I
That have not any soul:
God made me as the homeless wave,
That has no goal.
A seal my father was, a seal
That once was man;
My mother loved him tho' he was
'Neath mortal ban.
He took a wave and drownèd her,
She took a wave and lifted him:
And I was born where shadows are
In sea-depths dim.
All through the sunny blue-sweet hours
I swim and glide in waters green:
Never by day the mournful shores
By me are seen.
But when the gloom is on the wave
A shell unto the shore I bring:
And then upon the rocks I sit
And plaintive sing.
I have no playmate but the tide
The seaweed loves with dark brown eyes:
The night-waves have the stars for play,
For me but sighs.
"Fiona Macleod" (William Sharp)
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