Sometime at eve when the tide is low,
I will slip my mooring and sail away
With no response to a friendly hail
Of kindred craft on a busy bay.
In the silent hush of the twilight pale
As the night comes down to embrace the day
And the voices call in the water’s flow
Sometime at eve when the tide is low
I will slip my mooring and sail away.
Sometime at eve when the tide is low
I will slip my mooring and sail away.
Instrumental interlude…..
A few who have watched me sail away
Will miss my craft from the busy bay;
Some friendly barks that were anchored near,
Some loving souls that my heart held dear,
In silent sorrow they’ll drop a tear.
But I shall have peacefully furled my sail
In moorings sheltered from storm and gale
And greeted the friends who have sailed before
O’er the Unknown Sea to the Heavenly Shore.
Sometime at eve when the tide is low
I will slip my mooring and sail away.
Sometime at eve when the tide is low
I will slip my mooring and sail away.
Elizabeth Clark Hardy (1849-1929)
The poem, "In Durand", which includes a very respectful and heartfelt description of the City (Durand, Wisconsin), was written by Elizabeth Clark Hardy, a highly regarded poetess, who was a 25 year resident of the city. Elizabeth Clark was born in New York State in 1849 and eventually married Joseph Hardy of Durand in 1871. They farmed near Red Cedar for many years, and Elizabeth moved to Durand following her husband’s death in 1913.
Hardy was a popular writer of prose and poetry, contributing to many of the leading magazines of the time, including “Woman’s Home Companion” and “Harpers Magazine”. One poem, “When the Tide is Low", was read at the state funerals for both Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding. During the last 18 years of her life, she was the Household Editor for the "Wisconsin Agriculturalist” and each week during those years her columns brought hope and good cheer to thousands of Wisconsin farm women.
At her funeral services on September 8, 1929, her eulogy included the following quote: “The world will move on, the memory of this noble woman will grow dim with the passing years, but …those who have known her…will live better through the years. …that is why I do not want to say we have paid the last tribute to the departed, for I feel, if we do not, some later generation will sometime bring fuller tribute to her goodness and her genius.”
Some Time at Eve
Some time at eve when the tide is low,
I shall slip my mooring and sail away,
With no response to the friendly hail
Of kindred craft in the busy bay.
In the silent hush of the twilight pale,
When the night stoops down to embrace the day,
And the voices call in the waters’ flow-
Some time at eve when the tide is low,
I shall slip my mooring and sail away.
Through the purpling shadows that darkly trail
O’er the ebbing tide of the Unknown Sea,
I shall fare me away, with a dip of sail
And a ripple of waters to tell the tale
Of a lonely voyager, sailing away
To the Mystic Isles where at anchor lay
The crafts of those who have sailed before
O’er the Unknown Sea to the Unseen Shore.
A few who have watched me sail away
Will miss my craft from the busy bay;
Some friendly barks that were anchored near,
Some loving souls that my heart held dear,
In silent sorrow will drop a tear-