An arid daylight shines along the beach

Dried to a grey monotony of tone,

And stranded jelly-fish melt soft upon

The sun-baked pebbles, far beyond their reach

Sparkles a wet, reviving sea. Here bleach

The skeletons of fishes, every bone

Polished and stark, like traceries of stone,

The joints and knuckles hardened each to each.

And they are dead while waiting for the sea,

The moon-pursuing sea, to come again.

Their hearts are blown away on the hot breeze.

Only the shells and stones can wait to be

Washed bright. For living things, who suffer pain,

May not endure till time can bring them ease.

***

More poems by Amy Lowell