Page:Verses–Blanche·Baughan-1898.pdf/112

 And sank in it and melted. And the sea And sky and air were silent, for the dawn Was not far off; all things lay still and watch’d. Above the sea, rose, like some giant ghost, Because the pallid air had swathed it round, The great pile of the palace; ghostly, too, Show’d the broad parapet, and the marble steps That lead from it into the sea beneath; But, in the day, they all are dazzling white, Steps, palace, parapet, all a burning white Beneath the full blue sky.

The water swung With lazy plash over the sheeny steps, Or lifted little lips that curl’d and smiled, Too listless now for laughter, to the verge Of the unmoved marble, then sank back to rest; Laugh’d not, nor sobb’d, but breathed and slept and dream’d.