And I who am not, know thee well
Who art not: then the chain divides
From love-enlightened limbs, and swell
The choral cries unutterable
Out of the salt, out of the tides,
The sea, whose drink is death by thirst.
The triumph anthem overrides
The ocean's lamentable sides,
And we are done with life: accurst
Who linger; lost who find ; but we
Follow the gold wake of the first
Who found in losing ; who reversed
The dictates of eternity.
Lo! in steep meditation hearsed,
Coffined in knowledge, fast we flee
Unto the island from the sea.
74