Once splendid tales there were to tell –
The tales few dreamers know;
Of shrouded glory they once were
And distant times ago.

And once on beaches far and free
Fresh mists rolled with the tide;
And sunlight frisked on distant shores
To light the clear seaside.

And how the waves swelled with the wind
And how the seas swirled then;
The shrill, true cries of barren gales
Surged and soared again.

And in that time the sunshine failed
The fair shores lost their glow;
The bleak waves tossed their icy crests,
The harsh winds shrieked of woe.

The seasons’ colors came to fade
As blossoms shied from bloom;
Pale summer’s sheen crept from the land
And withered into gloom.

As time again revealed the light
And calmed the seas storm-tossed;
In poems now the myths relate
The bliss the islands lost.