Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | VII. The Sea | | Gulf-Weed | | Cornelius George Fenner (1822–1847) |
| | | A WEARY weed, tossed to and fro, | |
| Drearily drenched in the ocean brine, | |
| Soaring high and sinking low, | |
| Lashed along without will of mine; | |
| Sport of the spume of the surging sea; | 5 |
| Flung on the foam, afar and anear, | |
| Mark my manifold mystery,— | |
| Growth and grace in their place appear. | |
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| I bear round berries, gray and red, | |
| Rootless and rover though I be; | 10 |
| My spangled leaves, when nicely spread, | |
| Arboresce as a trunkless tree; | |
| Corals curious coat me o’er, | |
| White and hard in apt array; | |
| Mid the wild waves’ rude uproar | 15 |
| Gracefully grow I, night and day. | |
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| Hearts there are on the sounding shore, | |
| Something whispers soft to me, | |
| Restless and roaming forevermore, | |
| Like this weary weed of the sea; | 20 |
| Bear they yet on each beating breast | |
| The eternal type of the wondrous whole, | |
| Growth unfolding amidst unrest, | |
| Grace informing with silent soul. | | | | |
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