[Pg 160]

All the strength of the waves that perish

Swells beneath me and laughs and sighs,

Sighs for love of the life they cherish,

Laughs to know that it lives and dies,

Dies for joy of its life, and lives

Thrilled with joy that its brief death gives—

Death whose laugh or whose breath forgives

Change that bids it subside and rise.

II

Hard and heavy, remote but nearing,

Sunless hangs the severe sky's weight,

Cloud on cloud, though the wind be veering

Heaped on high to the sundawn's gate.

Dawn and even and noon are one,

Veiled with vapour and void of sun;

Nought in sight or in fancied hearing

Now less mighty than time or fate.

The grey sky gleams and the grey seas glimmer,

Pale and sweet as a dream's delight,

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