Lines on a beach

South Beach on Plum Island.

“What if the earth knows longing and regret,

And no one’s heard a whisper of it yet?

Why is the earth without an intimate?

These cursive lines, in which the ebbing tide

Would hint at little secrets to confide,

Denote a frilled coquette and not a bride.’’

From “On the Strand at Plum Island’’  {Mass.}, by Alfred Nicol