On the Shore

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2 id="id00071" style="margin-top: 4em">ON THE SHORE.</h2> <h4 id="id00009" style="margin-top: 2em">BY</h4> <h4 id="id00010" style="margin-top: 2em">SUSAN COOLIDGE.</h4> <p id="id00072">    The punctual tide draws up the bay,<br/> With ripple of wave and hiss of spray,<br/> And the great red flower of the light-house tower<br/> Blooms on the headland far away.<br/></p> <p id="id00073">    Petal by petal its fiery rose<br/> Out of the darkness buds and grows;<br/> A dazzling shape on the dim, far cape,<br/> A beckoning shape as it comes and goes.<br/></p> <p id="id00074">    A moment of bloom, and then it dies<br/> On the windy cliff 'twixt the sea and skies.<br/> The fog laughs low to see it go,<br/> And the white waves watch it with cruel eyes.<br/></p> <p id="id00075">    Then suddenly out of the mist-cloud dun,<br/> As touched and wooed by unseen sun,<br/> Again into sight bursts the rose of light<br/> And opens its petals one by one.<br/></p> <p id="id00076">    Ah, the storm may be wild and the sea be strong,<br/> And man is weak and the darkness long,<br/> But while blossoms the flower on the light-house tower<br/> There still is place for a smile and a song.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />