Read "Turn o' the Tide" by Henry van Dyke online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The tide flows in to the harbour --
The bold tide, the gold tide, the flood o' the sunlit sea --
And the little ships riding at anchor, / Are swinging and slanting their prows to the ocean, panting / To lift their wings to the wide wild air, / And venture a voyage they know not where --
To fly away and be free!
The tide runs out of the harbour --
The low tide, the slow tide, the ebb o' the moonlit bay --
And the little ships rocking at anchor, / Are rounding and turning their bows to the landward, yearning / To breathe the breath of the sun-warmed strand, / To rest in the lee of the high hill land --
To hold their haven and stay!
My heart goes round with the vessels --
My wild heart, my child heart, in love with the sea and the land --
And the turn o' the tide passes through it, / In rising and falling with mystical currents, calling / At morn, to range where the far waves foam, / At night, to a harbour in love's true home, / With the hearts that understand!
Seal Harbour, August 12, 1911.