Explore "In the Shallows" by Edith Nesbit on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
AMONG the shallows where the sand / Is golden and the waves are small, / I love to lie, and to my hand / How many little treasures fall! / What shells and seaweed grace the shore, / What happy birds on happy wings, / And for companions, what a store / Of humble, happy, living things!
Yet the sea's depths are also mine, / And in the old days I used to dive / Into the caves, where corals shine / And where the shimmering mer-folk live.
I am the master of the sea / In deeps where fairy flowers uncurl; / That treasure-house belongs to me, / Those amber halls, those stairs of pearl.
But now thereto I go no more, / Because of all the argosies, / Deep sunk upon the ocean floor, / Where all the world's lost treasure lies.
Where loveless laughter curls the lips / Of wild sea creatures at their sport / About the bones of noble ships, / My ships, that never came to port.