| |
| THE WILD waves madly dash and roar, | |
| In thunder-throbs, upon the beach; | |
| Their broad white hands upon the shore | |
| They struggle evermore to reach. | |
| |
| Up through the cavernous rocks amain, | 5 |
| With short, hoarse growl, they plunge and leap, | |
| Like an armed host, again and again, | |
| Battering some castellated steep. | |
| |
| Great pulses of the ocean heart, | |
| Beating from out immensity, | 10 |
| What mystic news would ye impart | |
| From the great spirit of the sea? | |
| |
| Ever, in still increasing force, | |
| Earnest as cries of love or hate, | |
| Your large and eloquent discourse | 15 |
| Is mighty as the march of fate. | |
| |
| I sit alone on the glowing sand, | |
| Filled with the music of your speech, | |
| And only half may understand | |
| The wondrous lore that ye would teach. | 20 |
| |
| The sea-weed and the shells are wise, | |
| And versed in your broad Sanscrit tongue; | |
| The rocks need not our ears and eyes | |
| To comprehend the under-song. | |
| |
| The ocean and the shore are one; | 25 |
| The rocks and trees that hang above, | |
| The birds and insects in the sun | |
| Are linked in one strong tie of love. | |
| |
| Would that I might with freedom be | |
| A seer into your hidden truth, | 30 |
| Joining your firm fraternity, | |
| To drink with you perpetual youth! | |
| |
