Sunset on the Sea

The shadows of eve were falling,
   and coldly the night wind blew;
The sky was a dusky crimson
   that faded to smoky blue;
And the sun, low down in the heavens,
   flamed as it sank from view.

There was no living creature,
   save only the gulls on high;
There was no sound in the stillness,
   save only the sea-birds cry;
And the wind-swept sea tossed purple
   under the fiery sky.

And white Kerbane to the westward
   shot out to the ocean wide;
And dark Benmore to the eastward
   swept down to the water's side;
And the white foam leaped from the breakers,
   as the last of the daylight died.

A white mist rose from the ocean;
   the face of sun was veiled;
The fiery light in the heavens waned,
   and the crimson paled.
And still through the gathering darkness,
   the voice of the seagulls wailed.

H. K. LEATHEM.

Poem: The Witness, 24 January 1919