Classic Poem

I

Thou dost hear the ocean's tale
In the moonlight, very pale,
Since thy chamber opens wide
One great casement towards the tide.
But another window looks
Over marshes and their brooks;
And thy garden paths, between
Brooks and window, intervene:
When the evening breezes blow,
Hear me in these paths below!

II

Lest the great, insistent sea —
Day and night adjuring thee —
By the secret word it sings,
Take too far from human things;
For a little space apart,
Hear the singing in my heart!
And if things beyond thee make
So much music for thy sake,
Hearken, from thy seat above,
The unmeasured deep of love!