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?