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by George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

Cape Cod
Language: English 
The low sandy beach and the thin scrub pine,
The wide reach of bay and the long sky line, --
      O, I am sick for home!

The salt, salt smell of the thick sea air,
And the smooth round stones that the ebbtides wear, --
      When will the good ship come?

The wretched stumps all charred and burned,
And the deep soft rut where the cartwheel turned, --
      Why is the world so old?

The lapping wave, and the broad gray sky
Where the cawing crows and the slow gulls fly,
      Where are the dead untold?

The thin, slant willows by the flooded bog,
The huge stranded hulk and the floating log,
      Sorrow with life began!

And among the dark pines, and along the flat shore,
O the wind, and the wind, for evermore!
      What will become of man?

Text Authorship:

  • by George Santayana (1863 - 1952), "Cape Cod", appears in Sonnets and Other Verses, first published 1896 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "Cape Cod" [voice and piano] [
     text not verified 
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2013-12-02
Line count: 18
Word count: 136

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