Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Isle of Man | | By the Sea-Shore | | William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | | WHY stand we gazing on the sparkling brine, | |
| With wonder smit by its transparency, | |
| And all enraptured with its purity?— | |
| Because the unstained, the clear, the crystalline | |
| Have ever in them something of benign; | 5 |
| Whether in gem, in water, or in sky, | |
| A sleeping infant’s brow, or wakeful eye | |
| Of a young maiden, only not divine. | |
| Scarcely the hand forbears to dip its palm | |
| For beverage drawn as from a mountain well. | 10 |
| Temptation centres in the liquid calm; | |
| Our daily raiment seems no obstacle | |
| To instantaneous plunging in, deep sea! | |
| And revelling in long embrace with thee. | | | | |
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