Songs of Sea and Sail

<h2>FLOTSAM.</h2> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">For the tide runs in and the tide runs out,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And the women they talk and wait,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">For hope has a soul that is built of doubt,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And our ships are ofttimes late.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the tide runs up and the tide runs down,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And the drift goes floating past;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">A message it bears to the waiting town</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">In form of a broken mast.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Look! no seaweed yellows its shattered ends!</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">No shell-fish whiten its girth!</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">'Tis a message, they cry, old Ocean sends</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">To those they have left on earth!</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the tide runs up and the tide runs down,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And the sea reclaims its toll;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">But the hopes that live in that stricken town</span><br/> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</SPAN></span></p> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Are those hopes that have no soul.</span><br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />