Seaside

Swiftly out from the friendly lilt of the band,

The crowd's good laughter, the loved eyes of men

I am drawn nightward; I must turn again

Where, down beyond the low untrodden strand,

There curves and glimmers outward to the unknown

The old unquiet ocean. All the shade

Is rife with magic and movement. I stray alone

Here on the edge of silence, half afraid,

Waiting a sign. In deep heart of me

The sullen waters swell towards the moon,

And all my tides set seaward.

From Inland

Leaps a gay fragment of some mocking tune,

that twinkles and laughs and fades along the sand,

And dies between the seawall and the sea.

Seaside

Rupert Brooke




The beach was abuzz this afternoon with the arrival of the HMAS Adelaide to her final destination. In less than 32 hours she will go to her seabed grave.