Classic Poem

Down on the sands I called my sin,
I called aloud in the waves' wide din.

—Now gray-cowled sea,
Absolve thou me!—

I called aloud in the sky's dark face,
With never a star to plead for grace,
The rock and the rain and the salt-sweet wind
Knew I had sinned.

O pompous cry, O puny sin!
The great waves laughed as they thudded in;
Laughed and tossed from a mermaid's hair
A long green ribbon for me to wear.