Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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

By CeliaThaxter

658 Song

WE sail toward evening’s lonely star

That trembles in the tender blue;

One single cloud, a dusky bar,

Burnt with dull carmine through and through,

Slow smouldering in the summer sky,

Lies low along the fading west.

How sweet to watch its splendors die,

Wave-cradled thus and wind-caressed!

The soft breeze freshens, leaps the spray

To kiss our cheeks, with sudden cheer;

Upon the dark edge of the bay

Lighthouses kindle, far and near,

And through the warm deeps of the sky

Steal faint star-clusters, while we rest

In deep refreshment, thou and I,

Wave-cradled thus and wind-caressed.

How like a dream are earth and heaven,

Star-beam and darkness, sky and sea;

Thy face, pale in the shadowy even,

Thy quiet eyes that gaze on me!

O realize the moment’s charm,

Thou dearest! we are at life’s best,

Folded in God’s encircling arm,

Wave-cradled thus and wind-caressed.