Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Tides

“I saw the long line of the vacant shore, The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand, And the brown rocks left bare on every hand, As if the ebbing tide would flow no more.”

“The tide rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; * * * * * * The little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sands, And the tide rises, the tide falls.”