"The Tide is Low"

The Tide is Low

The tide is low, is low,

        And the shining waves run out,

And along the pebbled beach

        The children play and shout.

To-night these waves will come

        Speaking along the shore,—

But the voice that is in my heart

        I shall hear no more, no more.

To-night these waves will come,

        Beating with life from the main,—

But the heart of my very heart

        Will never beat again.

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

"The Tide is Low" appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898).