The Wind Sleepers

Whiter

than the crust

left by the tide,

we are stung by the hurled sand

5

and the broken shells.

We no longer sleep

in the wind—

we awoke and fled

through the city gate.

10

Tear—

tear us an altar,

tug at the cliff-boulders,

pile them with the rough stones—

we no longer

15

sleep in the wind,

propitiate us.

Chant in a wail

that never halts,

pace a circle and pay tribute

20

with a song.

When the roar of a dropped wave

breaks into it,

pour meted words

of sea-hawks and gulls

25

and sea-birds that cry

discords.

—
H. D.

Sea Garden, 1916