O room so full of sunlight,
Of sound and scent of sea!
No other room in all the world
Could be so dear to me.
O room that looks to Southland—
That looks to East and West!
Thy four calm waves have held for me
Life’s truest, purest, best.
O room so full of flowers,
Of sound of wind and sea!
The fairest rooms in palaces
Are poor compared to thee.
And, room, when I have left thee,
And other eyes peer in,
Be true to me, nor ever speak
Of dreams that dwelt herein.
For, room, I love thee fondly,
And hold thee in my heart;
But I have learned with all we love
There comes a time to part.
A draft of “The Room by the Sea,” courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham Washington.
“The Room by the Sea” appears in Ella Higginson’s When the Birds Go North Again (1898).