If once you have slept on an island

You'll never be quite the same;

You may look as you looked 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 neighbors 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 change upon you came,

But once you have slept on an island

You'll never be quite the same!