Where river and ocean meet in a great tempestuous frown, <br />Beyond the bar, where on the dunes the white-capped rollers break; <br />Above, one windmill stands forlorn on the arid, grassy down: <br />I will set my sail on a stormy day and cross the bar and seek <br />That I have sought and never found, the exquisite one crown, <br />Which crowns one day with all its calm the passionate and the weak. <br /> <br />When the mad winds are unreined, wilt thou not storm, my sea? <br />(I have ever loved thee so, I have ever done thee wrong <br />In drear terrestrial ways.) When I trust myself to thee <br />With a last great hope, arise and sing thine ultimate, great song <br />Sung to so many better men, O sing at last to me, <br />That which when once a man has heard, he heeds not over long. <br /> <br />I will bend my sail when the great day comes; thy kisses on my face <br />Shall seal all things that are old, outworn; and anger and regret <br />Shall fade as the dreams and days shall fade, and in thy salt embrace, <br />When thy fierce caresses blind mine eyes and my limbs grow stark and set, <br />All that I know in all my mind shall no more have a place: <br />The weary ways of men and one woman I shall forget.<br /><br />Ernest Christopher Dowson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-sea-change/
