The old moon is tarnished <br />With smoke of the flood, <br />The dead leaves are varnished <br />With colour like blood. <br /> <br />A treacherous smiler <br />With teeth white as milk, <br />A savage beguiler <br />In sheathings of silk <br /> <br />The sea creeps to pillage, <br />She leaps on her prey; <br />A child of the village <br />Was murdered today. <br /> <br />She came up to meet him <br />In a smooth golden cloak, <br />She choked him and beat him <br />to death, for a joke. <br /> <br />Her bright locks were tangled, <br />She shouted for joy <br />With one hand she strangled <br />A strong little boy. <br /> <br />Now in silence she lingers <br />Beside him all night <br />To wash her long fingers <br />In silvery light.<br /><br />Elinor Morton Wylie<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sea-lullaby/
