LOVE’S WATCH.
Fair falls the dawn upon thy face, O sea!
And from thy furrows, crested white with foam,
The gray mist brightens, and the hollow dome
Of pearly cloud slow-reddens over thee:
The glee of birds with snowy sun-kissed wings
Cheerily wakes along thy tremulous waves,
And blent with echoes of far distant caves,
Thine own wild voice a deep-toned matin sings.
Eastward, the line of jagged reefs is bright
With sunshine and white dashings of thy spray;
And laughing blithely in the golden light,
The fretted surf runs rippling up the bay;
Westward, from night—O bear it safe, fair sea!—
Slow sails the ship with freighted love to me.