76 
AMBERGRIS 
 
 
 
 
FROM THE ARGONAUTS 
 
At Waikiki 
 
Light shed from seaward over breakers bending 
Kiss-wise to the emerald hollows :  light divine 
Whereof the sun is God, the sea his shrine ; 
Light in vibrations rhythmic ;  light unending ; 
Light sideways from the girdling crags ex-tending 
Unto this lone and languid head of mine ; 
Light, that fulfils creation as with wine, 
Flows in the channels of the deep :  light, rending 
The adamantine columns of the night, 
Is laden with the love-song of the light. 
 
Light, pearly-glimmering through dim gulf and hollow, 
Below the foam-kissed lips of all the sea ; 
Light shines from all the sky and up to me 
From the amber floors of sand :  Light calls Apollo ! 
The shafts of fire fledged of the eagle follow 
The crested surf, and strike the shore, and flee 
Far from green cover, nymph-enchanted lea, 
Fountain, and plume them white as the sea-swallow, 
And turn and quiver in the ocean, seeming 
The glances of a maiden kissed, or dreaming. 
 
Light, as I swim through rollers green and gleaming, 
Sheds its most subtle sense to penetrate 
This heart I thought impervious to Fate. 
Now the sweet light, the full delight, is beaming 
Through me and burns me :  all my flesh is teeming 
With the live kisses of the sea, my mate, 
My mistress, till the fires of life abate 
And leave me languid, man-forgotten, deeming 
I see in sleep, in many-coloured night, 
More hope than in the flame-waves of the light.