"Rocked in the cradle of the deep."

Emma Millard

1787-1870

"Children dear, was it yesterday
We heard the sweet bells over the bay
In the caverns where we lay,
Through the surf and the swell,
The far-off sound of silver bell?
Sand-strewn caverns, cool and deep,
where the winds are all asleep;
Where the spent lights quiver and gleam;
Where the salt weed sways in the stream;
Where the sea-beasts raged all around
Feed in the daze of their pasture-ground;
where the sea-snakes coil and twine,
Dry their mail and bask in the brine;
where great whales come sailing by,
Sail and sail, with unshut eye,
Round the world foe ever and aye;
When did music come this way?
Children dear, was it yesterday?"

From the Forsaken Merman by Arnold