'Tis a dainty shell, 'tis a fragile shell
At my feet that the wild waves threw,
And I send it thee, that its lips may tell
In thine ear that my heart is true.

It will tell thee how by the sunlit sea
Pass the hours we were wont to share.
On its pearl-pink lips is a kiss for thee
That my own loving lips placed there.

In a lady's hand it will snugly lie,
'Tis as thin as a red rose-leaf,
Yet it holds the seagull's sorrowing cry,
And the roar of the tide-lashed reef.

In its ivory cave, though the mighty sea
May find room, and to spare, to move,
Yet this same sea shell that I send to thee
Is too small to contain my love.