Inlanders

Inland

People that build their houses inland,

People that buy a plot of ground

Shaped like a house, and build a house there,

Far from the sea-board, far from the sound

Of water sucking the hollow ledges,

Tons of wter striking the shore, -

What do they long for, as I long for

One salt smell of the sea once more?

People the waves have not awakened,

Spanking the boats at the harbour's head,

What do they long for, as I long for, -

Starting up in my inland bed,

Beating the narrow walls, and finding

Neither a window nor a door,

Screaming to God for death by drowning, -

One salt taste of the sea once more?

from Collected Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay