The wake of the sea-ship, after she passes, flashing and frolicsome under the sun; A motley procession with many a fleck of foam and many fragments, Following the stately and rapid ship-in the wake following. SELF DEPENDENCE.1 WHITMAN. WEARY of myself, and sick of asking And a look of passionate desire O'er the sea and to the stars I send : "Ye, who from my childhood up have calmed me, Calm me,-ah! compose me to the end. 'Ah, once more! " I cried, "Ye Stars, Ye Waters, heart your mighty charm renew; Still, still let me, as I gaze upon you, On my Feel my soul becoming vast like you." From the intense, clear, star-strewn vault of heaven, In the rustling night air came the answer : "Unaffrighted by the silence around them, These demand not that the things without them 66 'And with joy the stars perform their shining, 'Bounded by themselves and unobservant In what state God's other works may be, In their own tasks all their powers pouring, These attain the mighty life you see. 1 A good instance of the sea's mysterious influence over the human mind. D O airborne Voice! long since severely clear, MATTHEW ARNOLD. "THE GENTLENESS OF HEAVEN." THE gentleness of Heaven is on the sea : WORDSWORTH. "THE OCEAN WITH ITS VASTNESS." THE Ocean with its vastness, its blue-green, Its ships, its rocks, its caves, its hopes, its fearsIts voice mysterious, which whoso hears Must think on what will be and what has been. KEATS. "LINGER WHERE." LINGER where the pebble-paven shore, SHELLEY. "NOW LAY THINE EAR." Now lay thine ear against this golden sand, I have lain hours, and fancied in its tone HOOD. "THOU REMEMBER'ST." THOU remember'st, Since once I stood upon a promontory, And certain stars shot madly from their spheres SHAKESPEARE. THE FLOOR OF THE SEA. THE floor is of sand, like the mountain-drift; Their bows, where tides nor billows flow: For the winds and waves are absent there: The sea-flag streams through the silent water, To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter; There, with a light and easy motion, The fan-coral sweeps through the clear deep sea; And the yellow and scarlet tufts of ocean Are bending, like corn on the upland lea. And life, in rare and beautiful forms, Is sporting amidst those bowers of stone, Where the myriad voices of ocean roar, 1 Wreckers. Even in the latter part of the life of James Gates Percival, M.D.-an American geologist, scholar and poet, who was born in Berlin, Connecticut, 1795, and died at Hazelgrove, Illinois, 1856-there were professional wreckers on both sides of the Atlantic. Then far below in the peaceful sea, The purple mullet and goldfish rove, Through the bending twigs of the coral-grove. "THE WORLD BELOW THE BRINE.” THE world below the brine— Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves, Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangle, openings, and pink turf; Different colours, pale grey and green, purple, white, and gold, the play of light through the water; Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass, rushes and the ailment of the swimmers; Sluggish existence grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling close to the bottom; The sperm-whale at the surface, blowing air and spray, or disporting with his flukes; The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard, and the string-ray; Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths, breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do. WHITMAN. ITS CREATURES, ITS MYTHS AND ITS TREASURES O creatures marvellous, past the mind of man Dumb, yet ye tell God's world-evolving plan And you, ye wondrous things of beauty and despair, With whom mankind once peopled Ocean's deeps, Now gone your charms, pearl combs and golden hair Your romance lost, where no tide ever sweeps. ANONYMOUS. Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear. GRAY. |