Chapter XIV: Book II

_The dotted cays,
With their little trees,
Lie all about on the crystal floor;
Nothing but beauty--
Far off is duty,
Far off the folk of the busy shore._

_The mangroves stride
In the coloured tide,
With leafy crests that will soon be isles;
And all is lonely--
White sea-sand only,
Angel-pure for untrodden miles._

_In sunny bays
The young shark plays,
Among the ripples and nets of light;
And the conch-shell crawls
Through the glimmering halls
The coral builds for the Infinite._

_And every gem
In His diadem,
From flaming topaz to moon-hushed pearl,
Glitters and glances
In swaying dances
Of waters adream like the eyes of a girl._

_The sea and the stars,
And the ghostly bars
Of the shoals all bright 'neath the feet of the moon;
The night that glistens,
And stops and listens
To the half-heard beat of an endless tune._

_Here Solitude
To itself doth brood,
At the furthest verge of the reef-spilt foam;
And the world's lone ends
Are met as friends,
And the homeless heart is at last at home._