TO THE SEA
What can I sing to thee
Oh! thrice-beloved sea?
What words can paint thy grace,
The beauty of thy face,
Enrapt with ecstasy?
Fling up thy foamy arms,
Laden with cooling balms,
And touch me where I stand
Here on the yearning land,
With soft embrace that calms.
I gaze into thine eyes,
Where mystic shadow lies,
And lovelights glow and gleam
Within their emerald beam,
And passion lives and dies—
Until my heart grows still
Beneath thy magic will,
And I can hear and see
Naught but thy song and thee,
That seems the world to fill.
Upon thy swelling breast
Restless and yet at rest,
My spirit floats and sings,
While Summer laughs and springs
From off thy snow-white crest.
Behold my hot desire
For thee to quench the fire,
With dewy kiss that slips
From thy divine, wet lips,
Making my joy entire.
Lift up thine endless song,
And echo it along
Until all space rejoice,
In thine enchanted voice,
That sounds so sweet and strong.
Until the rocks and beach
Break forth in answering speech,
And every listening shell
Some praise of thee can tell;
Some joy of thee can teach.
Oh, sea that knows no death!
Oh, life-inspiring breath!
The heart of me would praise
The glory of thy days,
Thine evenings, fathomless.
The soul in me would sing
To that eternal Spring
Beneath thy heaving breast,
Where lurk the depths of rest,
The end of everything.