The Three Girls On The Sea-Shore Poem by Gustave Kahn

The three girls on the sea-shore
have seen the Virgin mother passing
along the grave colonnades
ah! whence came you Virgin mother

I was sitting at the prow
sailing through the storms of waters
steering towards the colonnade
whence your eyes look on the sea

Ah! Virgin mother you are alone
your white robe is like a winding-sheet
you have walked on the waters
to come to the colonnade

I have drowned pilot and skipper
I have drowned the ship and the sailors
because upon the storms upon the waters
they would not believe in my mercy

Ah! Virgin mother our dear smiles
would draw the cord tight round their necks
even to the very cries for mercy
which they would have sent to the sky that is
starred by your passage unto our colonnades

Ah! others my merciful maids
have believed who sleep under the waters
I have drowned pilot and skipper
and all alone I shall haunt the short colonnade
my white robe is like a winding-sheet
Ah! let not your smiles die alone.
leave me all alone under the colonnade.