Three things

"O cruel Death, give three things back,"

Sang a bone upon the shore;

"A child found all a child can lack,

Whether of pleasure or of rest,

Upon the abundance of my breast":

A bone wave-whitened and dried in the wind.

"Three dear things that women know,"

Sang a bone upon the shore;

"A man if I but held him so

When my body was alive

Found all the pleasure that life gave":

A bone wave-whitened and dried in the wind.

"The third thing that I think of yet,"

Sang a bone upon the shore,

"Is that morning when I met

Face to face my rightful man

And did after stretch and yawn":

A bone wave-whitened and dried in the wind.