O LOVED AND LOST.
I sit beside the sea this autumn day,
When sky and tide are ravishingly blue,
And melt into each other. Down the bay
The stately ships drift by so still and slow,
That, on the horizon's verge, I scarce may know
Which be the sails along the wave that glow,
And which the clouds that float the azure through.
When sky and tide are ravishingly blue,
And melt into each other. Down the bay
The stately ships drift by so still and slow,
That, on the horizon's verge, I scarce may know
Which be the sails along the wave that glow,
And which the clouds that float the azure through.
From beds of goldenrod and asters steal
The south winds, soft as any breath of May;
High in the sunny air the white gulls wheel,
As noiseless as the cloud they poise below;
And, in the hush, the light waves come and go
As if a spell entranced them, and their flow
Echoed the beat of oceans far away.
The south winds, soft as any breath of May;
High in the sunny air the white gulls wheel,
As noiseless as the cloud they poise below;
And, in the hush, the light waves come and go
As if a spell entranced them, and their flow
Echoed the beat of oceans far away.
O Loved and Lost! can you not stoop to me
This perfect morn, when heaven and earth are one?
The south winds breathe of you; I only see
(Alas, the vision sweet can naught avail!)
Your image in the cloud, the wave, the sail;
And heed nor calm, nor storm, nor bliss, nor bale,
Remembering you have gone beyond the sun.
This perfect morn, when heaven and earth are one?
The south winds breathe of you; I only see
(Alas, the vision sweet can naught avail!)
Your image in the cloud, the wave, the sail;
And heed nor calm, nor storm, nor bliss, nor bale,
Remembering you have gone beyond the sun.
