"Song of the Sea-Shell"

Song of the Sea-Shell

I dipped my hand into the sea; a shell

Dropt in it as the tide came rolling in—

A shell of wondrous beauty, frail and thin—

And, in my fancy, trembling with the swell

Of waves that washed it there. Dreaming, I fell

To listening to that faint, sweet voice within—

As conscience’ voice oft gains the ear of sin,

Unrest and passion yielding to its spell:

“I am the soul of wind and wave and sky,

I hold the echo of the mermaid’s song;

In me you hear the voice of ocean roll,

And sunset’s tints upon my bosom lie;

Sweet melodies thrill thro’ me all day long:

I am their hiding-place, and they—my soul.”

"The Song of the Sea-Shell" printed in The Chicago Evening Journal, clipping courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA.