Poetry Archives

By Sidney and Clifford Lanier.


O wish that’s vainer than the plash
 Of these wave-whimsies on the shore:
“Give us a pearl to fill the gash—
 God, let our dead friend live once more!”

O wish that’s stronger than the stroke
 Of yelling wave and snapping levin;
“God, lift us o’er the Last Day’s smoke,
 All white, to Thee and her in Heaven!”

O wish that’s swifter than the race
 Of wave and wind in sea and sky;
Let’s take the grave-cloth from her face
 And fall in the grave, and kiss, and die!

Look!  High above a glittering calm
 Of sea and sky and kingly sun,
She shines and smiles, and waves a palm—
 And now we wish—Thy will be done!


Montgomery, Alabama, 1866.