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THE WATER BABIES

Strong and free, strong and free,

The floodgates are open, away to the sea;

Free and strong, free and strong,

Cleansing my streams as I hurry along,

To the golden sands, and the leaping bar,

And the taintless tide that awaits me afar.

As I lose myself in the infinite main,

Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again.

Undefiled, for the undefiled;

Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child.

So Tom went down; and all the while he never saw the Irishwoman going down behind him.

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