The stars beat up from the shadowy sea,
   The caves of the coral and pearl,
And the night is afire with a red desire
   For the loins of a golden girl.
You have left your girdle upon the beach,
   And you wade from the pulsing land,
And the hot tide darts your secret parts
   That have known one lover's hand.
The hot tide laves your rounded limbs,
   That his subtle fingers part,
And the sea that lies between your thighs
   Is the heart of the Night's red heart.
In the days to come and the night to come,
   And the days and the nights to be,
A babe you shall hold to your breast of gold
  As you croon a lullaby;
A babe with the cry of a wind-racked gull,
   That shall grow to a round-limbed girl
With strange cold eyes like the sea that lies
   In the caves of coral and pearl.
Her soul shall be as an ocean wind,
   Restless her feet shall be,
And she shall be part of the Night's red heart,
   And the heart of the sounding sea.
And your man who lies by your side at night,
   He is not your daughter's sire;
For she is the babe of the hungry Night,
   And the heart of the sea's desire!