inward and outward
to northward and southward the
beach-lines linger, curl
Adapted from the lines:
Bending your beauty aside, with a step I stand
On the firm-packed sand,
Free
By a world of marsh that borders a world of sea.
Sinuous southward and sinuous northward the shimmering band
Of the sand-beach fastens the fringe of the marsh to the folds of the land.
Inward and outward to northward and southward the beach-lines linger and curl
As a silver-wrought garment that clings to and follows
the firm sweet limbs of a girl.
Vanishing, swerving, evermore curving again into sight,
Softly the sand-beach wavers away to a dim gray looping of light.
From the poem, The Marshes of Glynn by Sidney Clopton Lanier.
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Lanier was known as the poet of the Confederacy so I really shouldn’t quote him but then the poem in question wasn’t published until 1875 after Mr. Lanier visited Glynn County in Georgia.
The image is of the beach on Jekyll Island in the self same Glynn Country.
I was there yesterday.
No Haiku For You 