'm by!"
Clear to his timid mate.
And there was Longlegs straddling,
And hearkening was he,
To distant Echo thrilling back
A thin "Coo-ee!"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE MERMAIDS

Sand, sand; hills of sand;
And the wind where nothing is
Green and sweet of the land;
No grass, no trees,
No bird, no butterfly,
But hills, hills of sand,
And a burning sky.

Sea, sea, mounds of the sea,
Hollow, and dark, and blue,
Flashing incessantly
The whole sea through;
No flower, no jutting root,
Only the floor of the sea,
With foam afloat.

Blow, blow, winding shells;
And the watery fish,
Deaf to the hidden bells,
In the water splash;
No streaming gold, no eyes,
Watching along the waves,
But far-blown shells, faint bells,
From the darkling caves.

[Illustration]

THE LITTLE CREATURE

[Illustration]

Twinkum, twankum, twirlum and twitch
My great grandam--She was a Witch.
Mouse in wainscot, Saint in niche--
My great grandam--She was a Witch;
Deadly nightshade flowers in a ditch--
My great grandam--She was a Witch;
Long though the shroud it grows stitch by stitch--
My great grandam--She was a Witch;
Wean your weakling before you breech--
My great grandam--She was a Witch;
The fattest pig's but a double flitch--
My great grandam--She was a Witch;
Nightjars rattle, owls scritch--
My great grandam--She was a Witch.

Pretty and small,
A mere nothing at all,
Pinned up sharp in the ghost of a shawl,
She'd straddle her down to the kirkyard wall,
And mutter and whisper and call; and call--
And--call.

Red blood out and black blood in,
My Nannie says I'm a child of sin--
How did I choose me my witchcraft kin!
Know I as soon as dark's dreams begin
Snared is my heart in a nightmare's gin;
Never from terror I out may win;
So dawn and dusk I pine, peak, thin,
Scarcely beknowing t'other from which--
My great grandam--She was a Witch.

SAM

[Illustration]

When Sam goes back in memory,
It is to where the sea
Breaks on the shingle, emerald-green,
In white foam, endlessly;
He says--with small brown eye on mine--
"I used to keep awake,
And lean from my window in the moon,