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Muse and Mint

Chapter 29: I’LL BE WATCHING ON THE SHORE

By Walter Seymour Percy

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About This Book

A varied collection of short lyrical poems that observes nature and rural life, using seasonal imagery—sap, snow, rivers, cherries—and simple domestic scenes to reflect on change, beauty, and small joys. Sections shift between fireside recollections, sentimental and philosophical meditations, homiletic and religious pieces, and light humor, blending devotional songlike verses with moral aphorisms and affectionate memory. The voice moves between wistful and buoyant moods, finding consolation and ethical insight in commonplace experiences, while concise stanzas and vivid images emphasize mood and moral reflection rather than a continuous narrative.

I’LL BE WATCHING ON THE SHORE

She kissed me when we parted,—

I to sail the stormy main,

She to keep the little cottage

Snug until I come again;

And well do I remember

What she promised o’er and o’er:—

“When you come sailing from the ocean

I’ll be watching on the shore!”

So I was a jolly skipper,

Coiling rope or reefing sail;

Many a distant port I entered,

Many a homebound ship did hail.

If I sent or got a message,

Always it the promise bore:—

“When you come sailing from the ocean

I’ll be watching on the shore!”

Death came yawning in the tempest;

Wild and high the spindrift flew,

And from dizzy deck and masthead

Oft I thought my hour was due;

Till her dear prophetic promise

Sang above the billows’ roar:—

“When you come sailing from the ocean

I’ll be watching on the shore!”

But alas! One time I harbored

She was sleeping white and still

Where the ivy made a trellis

Of the lookout on the hill;

And the cold engraven marble

Yet the farewell promise bore:—

“When you come sailing from the ocean

I’ll be watching on the shore!”