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Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

The Sands Are Alive With Sunshine

William Ernest Henley

The sands are alive with sunshine,
The bathers lounge and throng,
And out in the bay a bugle
Is lilting a gallant song.

The clouds go racing eastward,
The blithe wind cannot rest,
And a shard on the shingle flashes
Like the shining soul of a jest;

While children romp in the surges,
And sweethearts wander free,
And the Firth as with laughter dimples . . .
I would it were deep over me!
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Poems | Macmillan and Co., 1920
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