"The Room by the Sea"

The Room by the Sea

O room so full of sunlight,

         Of sound and scent of sea!

No other room in all the world

         Could be so dear to me.

O room that looks to Southland—

         That looks to East and West!

Thy four calm waves have held for me

         Life’s truest, purest, best.

O room so full of flowers,

         Of sound of wind and sea!

The fairest rooms in palaces

         Are poor compared to thee.

And, room, when I have left thee,

         And other eyes peer in,

Be true to me, nor ever speak

         Of dreams that dwelt herein.

For, room, I love thee fondly,

         And hold thee in my heart;

But I have learned with all we love

         There comes a time to part.

A draft of "The Room by the Sea" on onionskin paper, courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA.

"The Room by the Sea" appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898).