And in their soaring minstrelsy,
Seemed echoes of rejoicing psalms;
Seemed echoes of rejoicing psalms;
When wave on wave, the tide returned,—
A siren singing on the sand;—
I, waiting, with my whole heart yearned
To hear his boat's keel touch the land;
A siren singing on the sand;—
I, waiting, with my whole heart yearned
To hear his boat's keel touch the land;
I, waiting, wasted half the night,
Faint grew the planets, pale and far;
For him, a fairer morning light,
Dawned with the tender morning star.
Faint grew the planets, pale and far;
For him, a fairer morning light,
Dawned with the tender morning star.
XXXVIN SUN AND SHADE
We walked together on the sand:
The lazy tide was fretting;
The wind blew sweetly from the land;
The summer sun was setting.
The lazy tide was fretting;
The wind blew sweetly from the land;
The summer sun was setting.
Lonely and long the white beach lay
Beneath the sunset's flushing;
The breakers, near and far away,
All their white tumult hushing.
Beneath the sunset's flushing;
The breakers, near and far away,
All their white tumult hushing.
A cruel wreck upon the shore
Spoke of the storm's wild doing:
We dreamed no tempest evermore
Could blight our summer's wooing.
Spoke of the storm's wild doing:
We dreamed no tempest evermore
Could blight our summer's wooing.
One star was trembling into light,
In that wide heaven showing;
One thought within our hearts that night
Exceeding sweet was growing.
In that wide heaven showing;
One thought within our hearts that night
Exceeding sweet was growing.
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