I Strode Along My Beaches

Listen to:

 I Strode Along My Beaches (:59)

by Wallace Stevens 

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

Sonnet

'I strode along my beaches...'

John Morris 2nd pseud.

Havard Monthly, XXVIII, 5, Jul 1899, 188 Not found online

I strode along my beaches like a sea,

The sand before me stretching firm and fair;

No inland darkness cast its shadow there

And my long step was gloriously free.

The careless wind was happy company

That hurried past and did not question where;

Yet as I moved I felt a deep despair

And wonder of the thoughts that came to me.

For to my face the deep wind brought the scent

Of flowers I could not see upon the strand;

And in the sky a silent cloud was blent

With dreams of my soul's stillness; and the sand,

That had been naught to me, now trembled far

In mystery beneath the evening star.