To curb and tame this towering element.
Back on the curving beach I stood again,
Facing the bath-house, when a group of men,
Stumbling beneath some sort of weight, went by.
I could not see the hidden thing they carried;
I only heard: “He never gave a cry”—
“Who’s going to tell her?”—“Yes, and they just married”—
“Such a good swimmer, too.” ... And then they passed;
Leaving the silence throbbing and aghast.
A moment there my buoyant heart hung slack,