Classic Poem

On the cliff's edge a dewy cluster of thrift
Sparkles like amethysts against the sea,
A sea of sapphire laced unceasingly
With little lines of foam, and wings that drift
And wheel and dip in mazy dazzling flight
Bewilderingly before my dreaming eyes,
That watch the snow and sapphire sink and rise,
Drowsed by the interweaving blue and white.

Yet in my chambered mind the while, I see
Within an attic in a swarming, high,
And cliff-like tenement that blocks the sky,
One knitting and one stitching at a hem,
Two patient women uncomplainingly
Talking of all that life has done to them.