66 
AMBERGRIS 
Breast of the surf-bound strand, 
Life of the earth, God’s child, Man’s bride, the light 
of the sweet land ! 
 
Are emeralds ever a spark of this clear green, 
Or sapphires hints of this diviner blue, 
Or rubies shadows of this rosy hue, 
Or light itself elsewhere so clear and clean ? 
For all the sparkling dews of heaven fallen far 
Crystalline, fixed, forgotten (as a star 
Forgets its nebulous virginity) 
Are set in all the sky and earth and sea. 
Shining with solar fire, 
The single-eyed desire 
Of scent and sound and sight and sense perfuses 
The still and lambent light 
Of the essential night ; 
And all the heart of me is fain, and muses, 
As if for ever doomed to dream 
Or pass in peace Lethean adown the grey Lethean 
stream. 
 
So deep the sense of beauty, and so keen ! 
The calm abiding holiness of love 
Reigns ;  and so fallen from the heights above 
Immeasurable, the influence unseen 
Of music and of spiritual fire, 
That the soul sleeps, forgotten of desire, 
Only remembering its God-like birth 
Reflected in the deity of earth, 
Becometh even as God. 
The pensive period 
Of night and day beats like a waving fan 
No more, no more ;  the years, 
Reft of their joys and fears, 
Pass like pale faces, leave the life of man 
Untroubled of their destinies, 
Leave him forgotten of life and time, immortal, calm 
and wise.