“Calais” [poem]
CALAIS.
THE sands are in the sunlight sleeping,
[The tide upon the bar is leaping;] a
Again, again for evermore
Haste the light curlings to the shore,
And yet advance and yet retreat
On playful childhoodʼs daring feet,
That seeks within its sandy cell
The pebble bright, or purple shell. 1
Far in its clear expanse, lay wide
Unruffledly that ocean tide,
Stretching away where paler grew
The heavenʼs bright unclouded blue.
And, far away in distance dying,
Old Englandʼs cliffy coast was lying;
And beautiful as summer cloud
By the low sun empurpled proud.
[The tide upon the bar is leaping;] a
Again, again for evermore
Haste the light curlings to the shore,
And yet advance and yet retreat
Ruskin's line number
5
System generated line number
5On playful childhoodʼs daring feet,
That seeks within its sandy cell
The pebble bright, or purple shell. 1
Far in its clear expanse, lay wide
Unruffledly that ocean tide,
Ruskin's line number
10
System generated line number
10Stretching away where paler grew
The heavenʼs bright unclouded blue.
And, far away in distance dying,
Old Englandʼs cliffy coast was lying;
And beautiful as summer cloud
Ruskin's line number
15
System generated line number
15By the low sun empurpled proud.
Strange, that a space from shore to shore
So soon, so easily passed oʼer,
Should yet a wide distinction place
ʼTwixt man and man, ʼtwixt race and race!
Sudden and marked the change you find,—
Religion, language, even mind; 2
That you might think that narrow span
Marked the varieties of man.
So soon, so easily passed oʼer,
Should yet a wide distinction place
ʼTwixt man and man, ʼtwixt race and race!
Ruskin's line number
20
System generated line number
20Sudden and marked the change you find,—
Religion, language, even mind; 2
That you might think that narrow span
Marked the varieties of man.