Poems (Scudder)/The Sea Anemone
THE SEA ANEMONE
To what faint-rhythmed cadence heard of none,
What measured harmonies of limpid sound
Are swayed the fragile rays that ring thee round
Like the mist-halo of a vanquished sun?
Milk-opal, crystal, cloudy selenite,
Scarce through the veil of hueless water seen
Against the lucent mosses, but with keen
And sudden poignancies of frosty light.
Of what vast wonder is thy beauty part?
Of sunless gardens where the pendant fruits
Gleam through the filmy dusk like the vague sphere
Of the midday moon, of flowers that appear
Bubbles held by a dream of stems and roots?
Or what the secret of thy dim sea-heart?
What measured harmonies of limpid sound
Are swayed the fragile rays that ring thee round
Like the mist-halo of a vanquished sun?
Milk-opal, crystal, cloudy selenite,
Scarce through the veil of hueless water seen
Against the lucent mosses, but with keen
And sudden poignancies of frosty light.
Of what vast wonder is thy beauty part?
Of sunless gardens where the pendant fruits
Gleam through the filmy dusk like the vague sphere
Of the midday moon, of flowers that appear
Bubbles held by a dream of stems and roots?
Or what the secret of thy dim sea-heart?