Waiting and Wishing [poem by Henry Kendall]

[Editor: This poem by Henry Kendall was published in Poems and Songs (1862).]

Waiting and Wishing.

I loiter by this surging sea,
Here, by this surging, sooming sea,
Here, by this wailing, wild-faced sea,
Dreaming through the dreamy night ;
Yearning for a strange delight !
Will it ever, ever, ever fly to me,
By this surging sea,
By this surging, sooming sea,
By this wailing, wildfaced sea ?

I know some gentle spirit lives,
Some loving, lonely spirit lives,
Some melancholy spirit lives,
Walking o’er the earth for me,
Searching round the world for me !
Will she ever, ever, ever hither come ?
Where the waters roam,
Where the sobbing waters roam !
Where the raving waters roam !

All worn and wasted by the storms,
All gapped and fractured by the storms,
All split and splintered by the storms,
Overhead the caverns groan,
Gloomy, ghastly caverns groan ! —
Will she ever, ever, ever fill this heart ?
Peace, O longing heart !
Peace, O longing, beating heart !
Peace, O weeping, weary heart !

Source:
Henry Kendall, Poems and Songs, J. R. Clarke, Sydney, 1862, pages 63-64

Editor’s notes:
gapped = something with breaches, gaps, or openings in it

sooming = swimming