Chapter II

The glistening waters again
Are marching loyal and true
Under the hollow sky,--
A hundred million of men
Throbbing as fiery dew
Under the morning's eye!

List to the repetend note,
Multiplex tone of the sea,
Refrain of grief, of mirth,
On violet air afloat
Far borne to mountain and lea,
To the home of its birth.

List as its music unbraids:--
_Rivulets pour from the hill,
Winds wash the lips o' the trees,
The brook by the rocky glades
Brattles its way to the mill
Through fields adream with bees._

_Forests of pine and of fir
Plain as their dark plumes are fret
By the free-coursing winds;
Alder and golden birch stir
To notes too sweet to forget,
Sung by brook as it winds._

Hark! _The lone laugh of the auk
As 'twere a disprisoned soul come
From out the shining foams!
And the loon's "ha! ha!" and mock
'Mid the torn surf's booming drum,
Or hushed tide's star-sprent domes!_

_The ringdove coos in the grove,
The cataract's thunders jar,
Rapids swirl white and hiss;
Peoples in temples of love
Echo their anthems afar,
Diapasons of bliss._

Great flux of the world, O sea,
Blood of earth's wild pulsing veins
Beating to orbs afar,
Your life and mine cannot be
Unlinked with God's joys and pains
Here or in throbbing star!

List as its music unbraids,
List to the much-sounding sea,
List to the repetend note,
Multiplex tone of the sea,--
Refrain of grief, of mirth,
On violet air afloat
Far borne to mountain and lea,
To the home of its birth.

SUMMER FOG.

I.

Waft of beaten brine of the Bay,
Tonic keen as steel in strife,
Blowing wet and cool in my face,
Tang of bitter savor of life!

II.

Billows calm of whitest fog,
Over ships and homes now roll,--
Breath of seas in quest of heaven,
Groping blind as human soul,
Blearing, hiding, muffling all,--
Life itself laid under the shroud!

III.

Breath-blown veils of faltering mist,
Filmy dreams of luminous cloud,
Shifting curtains fret with air,
Noiseless sped as northern lights;
Opening, shutting gaps of blue,
Gleams and glories, glooms and nights!

Torn by winds and riven in spray,
Borne afar o'er pine trees tall,
Clinging round the mountain crests,
Melt in azure roofing all!

IV.

Mystic phantom, mime of life:
Witching visions, vanishing play,
Belts of shadow, rending veils,
Cloudless dome of perfect day!

V.

Come again, white vapor of seas,
Blow thy pungent balm in my face,
Soft illusions weave o'er earth,
Charm me up to heaven's embrace!

THE ARETHUSA.

A pearly boat am I,
From Silver Crag I hail,
Wrought of the sea and sky,
Freighted with moonbeams pale.

I hoist my purple sails
To catch the starbeam's gold,
And furl them in the gales
The sun blows overbold.

Rainbows and flying tints,
The sunset's crimson glow,
A thousand gleams and glints
All day do come and go.

But as the silver moon
Rolls up the breathless blue,
And all the stars in swoon
Are hidden from my view,

I ope my hatches wide
And lade with pearl and sheen,
To deck my home-bound bride,
The Basin's peerless queen.

DIAN AND FUNDY.

(DESIGNS FOR A TIME-PIECE.)

I.

_The Enchantress._

In silver shoon, on sapphire pavement clear,
Fair Dian walks the overarching night;
Her spell she lays--great Fundy leaps with cheer!
She breaks--he flees in elemental might!

II.

_The Lovers._

Dian, pale Dian, sailing the upper sea,
Searching for lover lost on earth's lone beach;
And Fundy, forward, backward, ceaselessly,
By love's impulsions borne to utmost reach.