William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962). Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1920.
They That Dwell in Shadow
T
Perpetually roam
In leagues of spectral meadow,
By phantom miles of foam.
Their lives are very weary,
And yet they cannot die,
Leave their sea-beaches dreary,
Or change that bitter sky.
They twitter like dry leaves
In talk along the meadow,
And none is glad, or grieves.
They whisper, whisper only,
And no man, save he dwell
Beside those sea waves lonely
Knows what it is they tell.
Are neither good nor bad;
Their hearts are like the meadow,
Monotonous and sad.
The world has died around them,
The skies are blank above:
I happened there and found them—
Their whispers were of love.