Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By GeorgeHoughton

1033 Sandy Hook

WHITE sand and cedars; cedars, sand;

Light-houses here and there; a strand

Strewn o’er with driftwood; tangled weeds;

A squad of fish-hawks poised above

The nets, too anxious-eyed to move;

Flame-flowering cactus; wingëd seeds,

That on a sea of sunshine lie

Unfanned, save by some butterfly;

A sun now reddening toward the west;—

And under and through all one hears

That mellow voice, old as the years,

The waves’ low monotone of unrest.

So wanes the summer afternoon

In drowsy stillness, and the moon

Appears; when, sudden, round about

The wind-cocks wheel,—hoarse fog-horns shout

A warning, and in gathering gloom

Against the sea’s white anger loom

Tall shapes of wreckers, torch in hand,

Rattling their life-boats down the sand!