Volume II Part 33 (1/2)
IV.
O solemn-beating heart Of nature! I have knowledge that thou art Bound unto man's by cords he cannot sever; And, what time they are slackened by him ever, So to attest his own supernal part, Still runneth thy vibration fast and strong The slackened cord along:
V.
For though we never spoke Of the grey water and the shaded rock, Dark wave and stone unconsciously were fused Into the plaintive speaking that we used Of absent friends and memories unforsook; And, had we seen each other's face, we had Seen haply each was sad.
_THE SEA-MEW._
AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED TO M. E. H.
I.
How joyously the young sea-mew Lay dreaming on the waters blue Whereon our little bark had thrown A little shade, the only one, But shadows ever man pursue.
II.
Familiar with the waves and free As if their own white foam were he, His heart upon the heart of ocean Lay learning all its mystic motion, And throbbing to the throbbing sea.
III.
And such a brightness in his eye As if the ocean and the sky Within him had lit up and nurst A soul G.o.d gave him not at first, To comprehend their majesty.
IV.
We were not cruel, yet did sunder His white wing from the blue waves under, And bound it, while his fearless eyes Shone up to ours in calm surprise, As deeming us some ocean wonder.
V.
We bore our ocean bird unto A gra.s.sy place where he might view The flowers that curtsey to the bees, The waving of the tall green trees, The falling of the silver dew.
VI.
But flowers of earth were pale to him Who had seen the rainbow fishes swim; And when earth's dew around him lay He thought of ocean's winged spray, And his eye waxed sad and dim.
VII.
The green trees round him only made A prison with their darksome shade; And drooped his wing, and mourned he For his own boundless glittering sea-- Albeit he knew not they could fade.
VIII.
Then One her gladsome face did bring, Her gentle voice's murmuring, In ocean's stead his heart to move And teach him what was human love: He thought it a strange, mournful thing.
IX.