Two Poems by Oscar Laighton

SONG
By Oscar Laighton

A storm is gathering in the air,
The gulls fly high in circles wide,
Deep murmurs usher in the tide
Foaming o'er rocks all brown and bare.

These precious Isles are anchored fast,
Storm-swept by many a northeast gale
That rends the bolt rope from the sail,
And breaks in twain the groaning mast!

O love, my heart is like the sea,
Surging with every gale that blows,
Longing for winds that bring the rose,
The happy summer-time and thee.

BECALMED
By Oscar Laighton

Like a dream the moon shone down
On the craft off Provincetown.
With them on the shining bay.
My old fishing schooner lay,
Rolling gently with the tide,
Her rough rigging glorified,
Outlined on the moonlit stream
Like a ship seen in a dream.
Slow the movement of her rails,
Filled aloft her idle sails.
Though so calm that pleasant night,
From my boat to Highland Light,
Awful under winter stars,
Crashed the waves on Peaked Hill Bars!

Source: Poems from "Songs and Sonnets", undated and privately published in Andover, MA from collection of SeacoastNH.com