August Evening on the Beach, Lake Huron / William Wilfred Campbell

August Evening on the Beach, Lake Huron

A lurid flush of sunset sky,
An angry sketch of gleaming lake,
I will remember till I die
The sound, of pines that sob and sigh,
Of waves upon the beach that break.

’Twas years ago, and yet it seems,
O love, but only yesterday
We stood in holy sunset dreams,
While all the day’s diaphanous gleams
Sobbed into silence bleak and gray.

We scarcely knew, but our two souls
Like night and day rushed into one;
The stars came out in gleaming shoals:
While, like a far-off bell that tolls,
Came voices from the wave-dipped sun.

We scarcely knew, but hand in hand,
With subtle sense, was closer pressed;
As we two walked in that old land.
Forever new, whose shining strand
Goes gleaming round the world’s great breast.

What was it sweet our spirits spoke?
No outward sound of voice was heard.
But was it bird or angel broke
The silence, till a dream voice woke
And all the night was music-stirred?

What was it, love, did mantle us,
Such fire of incense filled our eyes?
The moon-light was not ever thus:
Such star-born music rained on us,
We grew so glad and wonder-wise.

But this, O love, was long ago,
Although it seems but yesterday
The moon rose in her silver glow,
As she will rise on nights of woe,
On hands uplift, on hearts that pray.

A lurid flush of sunset sky,
An angry sketch of gleaming lake;
I will remember till I die,
The sound of pines that sob and sigh,
Of waves upon the beach that break.

~~~
William Wilfred Campbell (1860-1918)
from Lake Lyrics, and other poems, 1889

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

William Wilfred Campbell biography