Sea

Katherine Mansfield 1888 (Wellington) – 1923 (Fontainebleau, Île-de-France)



The Sea called--I lay on the rocks and said:
"I am come."
She mocked and showed her teeth,
Stretching out her long green arms.
"Go away!" she thundered.
"Then tell me what I am to do," I begged.
"If I leave you, you will not be silent,
But cry my name in the cities
And wistfully entreat me in the plains and forests;
All else I forsake to come to you--what must I do?"
"Never have I uttered your name," snarled the Sea.
"There is no more of me in your body
Than the little salt tears you are frightened of shedding.
What can you know of my love on your brown rock
     pillow....
Come closer."

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
155

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKKLMNO
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 587
Words 124
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. more…

All Katherine Mansfield poems | Katherine Mansfield Books

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    "Sea" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/25128/sea>.

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