If once you have slept on an island,

You’ll never be quite the same,

You may look as you did the day before,           

And go by the same old name,

You may bustle about in street and shop,

You may sit at home and sew,

But you’ll see blue water and wheeling gulls,

Wherever your feet may go,

You may chat with the neighbours of this and that,

And close to your fire keep,

But you’ll hear ship whistle and lighthouse bell,

And tides beat through your sleep

Oh! You won’t know why and you can’t say how

Such a change upon you came

But once you have slept on an island

You’ll never be quite the same

                                                                        Rachel Lyman Field