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20
A THOUGHT BY THE SEA-SHORE.

The changeless stars look lovingly on me,
And let me sleep beside this sounding sea—

    This ever-beating heart
Of the great Universe; here would the soul
Plume her soiled pinions for the final goal,
    Ere she should thence depart,—
Here would she fit her for the high abode,—
Here, by the sea, she would be nearer God.

    I feel His presence now,
Thou mightiest of his vassals, as I stand
And watch beside thee on the sparkling sand,
    Thy crested billows bow;
And, as thy solemn chant swells through the air,
My spirit, awed, joins in thy ceaseless prayer.

    Life’s fitful fever o’er,
Here then would I repose, majestic sea;
E’en now faint glimpses of eternity
    Come o’er me on thy shore:
My thoughts from thee to highest themes are given,
As thy deep distant blue is lost in Heaven.