One Foot on Sea, and One on Shore
Two speakers face a painful parting. One repeatedly asks when they will meet again; the other makes reunion depend on flowers blossoming at sea and fishes skimming the plain. Their exchange ends with an admission that the pain of separation wounds them both.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry · 255 words
First lines
"Oh tell me once and tell me twice / And tell me thrice to make it plain, / When we who part this weary day, / When we who part shall meet again."
"When windflowers blossom on the sea / And fishes skim along the plain, / Then we who part this weary day, / Then you and I shall meet again."
"Yet tell me once before we part, / Why need we part who part in pain? / If flowers must blossom on the sea, / Why, we shall never meet again.
"My cheeks are paler than a rose, / My tears are salter than the main, / My heart is like a lump of ice / If we must never meet again."
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Six rhymed stanzas express the speakers' distress through repeated questions, tears, and images of hearts freezing or breaking.
- Love Poetry — The speakers' painful separation culminates in one acknowledging that the other's breaking heart breaks their own.
Tags
parting · heartbreak · separation · impossible reunion · dialogue
What this Textopian page supports
One Foot on Sea, and One on Shore is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry
- Length: 255 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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