The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems (Markham, Pyle, 1900)/The Elf Child

by Edwin Markham

 

The Elf Child

I am a child of the reef and the blowing spray,
And all my heart goes wildly to the sea.
I am a changeling: can you follow me
Through hill and hollow on the wind's dim way?
Yes, at the break of a tempestuous day
They bore me to the land through starless storm
And laid me in the pillow sweetly warm
And broken by the first one's little stay.

The elf kings found me on an ocean reef,
A lyric child of mystery and grief.
Then need I tell you why the trembling start—
Why in my song the sound of ocean dwells—
Why the quick gladness when the billow swells,
As though remembered voices called the heart?