BREAK, long wave, below my feet! <br />Wind and meet, <br />Sea-streams that the moon hath shaken! <br />From the shingle white and bare, <br />All the air <br />With sonorous cadence waken! <br /> <br />From the distance dim and bright, <br />Gulphed in light, <br />To the long spent wave that dashes, <br />All the sea shines through and through <br />Fiery blue: <br />When the wind is up, it flashes. <br /> <br />And the milder heaven above, <br />Full of love, <br />Smiles upon the rolling ocean, <br />Like a woman's heart content <br />To be spent <br />And absorbed in sweet devotion. <br /> <br />Surely Venus through the sea <br />Clear and free, <br />Rose on such a morn as this is, <br />Called her doves about her there, <br />Heard the air <br />Murmur through their wings like kisses. <br /> <br />Out of cold green depths of foam, <br />Sea-nymphs' home, <br />To the live air, red with roses, <br />Came she, clothed about with light, <br />Warm and white, <br />Like a moon the mist encloses. <br /> <br />Like a summer moon whose limbs, <br />As she swims <br />Ever up in the pale aether, <br />Cast their lawny veils aside <br />Till they hide <br />Nought from the mad earth beneath her. <br /> <br />Though no more with reverent eyes, <br />Sadly wise, <br />Sea and air to us are holy, <br />Born too late for gods to bless <br />We profess <br />To be disenchanted wholly, <br /> <br />Though the nymphs are dead, and we <br />Cannot see, <br />Plunging in the gulfs of azure, <br />Long processions, gods in line, <br />Half divine, <br />Blowing horns of mellow leisure, <br /> <br />Yet the old sweet creeds and we <br />Cannot be <br />Always so far rent asunder, <br />Since we feel on such a morn <br />Life reborn <br />In the antique world of wonder.<br /><br />Edmund William Gosse<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/may-morning-5/
