"Fair is the crystal hall for me,
"With rubies and with emeralds set,
"And sweet the music of the sea
"Shall sing, when we for love are met.
"How sweet to dance, with gliding feet,
"Along the level tide so green,
"Responsive to the cadence sweet,
"That breathes along the moonlight scene!
"And soft the music of the main
"Rings from the motley tortoise-shell,
"While moonbeams, o'er the watery plain,
"Seem trembling in its fitful swell.
"How sweet, when billows heave their head,
"And shake their snowy crests on high,
"Serene in Ocean's sapphire bed,
"Beneath the tumbling surge, to lie;
"To trace, with tranquil step, the deep,
"Where pearly drops of frozen dew
"In concave shells, unconscious, sleep,
"Or shine with lustre, silvery blue!
"Then shall the summer sun, from far,
"Pour through the wave a softer ray,
"While diamonds, in a bower of spar,
"At eve shall shed a brighter day.
"Nor stormy wind, nor wintery gale,
"That o'er the angry ocean sweep,
"Shall e'er our coral groves assail,
"Calm in the bosom of the deep.
"Through the green meads beneath the sea,
"Enamoured, we shall fondly stray—
"Then, gentle warrior, dwell with me,
"And leave the maid of Colonsay!"—
"Though bright thy locks of glistering gold,
"Fair maiden of the foamy main!
"Thy life-blood is the water cold,
"While mine beats high in every vein.
"If I, beneath thy sparry cave,
"Should in thy snowy arms recline,
"Inconstant as the restless wave,
"My heart would grow as cold as thine."