Classic Poem

By the amber light
Of the magic moon,
I sat by the Summer sea;
And listened long with a strange delight,
At night, in the leafy month of June,
To the mystic rune of its ceaseless tune,
And its marvellous melody!

And I fancied I heard as in a dream,
The wandering words of a singular theme—
The sound of a sad, subdued refrain,
Coming and going and coming again—
“Mortal trouble ceases never,
But I, the Sea, am the same forever.
I am the spirit of the sea:
Whoever the monarchs of earth may be,
They never can conquer me!
Tremendous Ocean's boundless plain
Is my supreme domain;
And proudly my foamy plumes are curled,
Throughout the Zones of the whirling world!”

O strange and rare,
Are my mansions fair,
Glittering palaces under the sea!
In might and majesty there I dwell,
Where the floors are paved with the red sea-shell,
Which the yellow-haired mermaids bring to me!
And I laugh to see their wild eyes glisten,
As they lean from their bowers,
Of green sea-flowers,
And swaying float on their sides to listen
To the stormy harmonies they love,
The plunge of the breakers far above!

Treasures untold,
Of the wrecks of argosies of old—
Wonderful pearls and coffers of gold,
With Indian gems from throne and shrine,
And opulent plunder of heathen wars,
In my coral avenues flash and shine,
And lighten the phosphorescent shades
Of my lengthened, emerald arcades,
With the deathless splendor of tinted stars!
Mine—all mine!
For what are the kings of earth to me?
I am the Spirit of the Sea!

Washing the shores
Of the green Azores,
Where the league-long surf forever roars;
Or where on Iceland's rocky walls,
My ponderous Titan-thunder falls;
Or where in indolent tropic calms,
I lave the feet of the holy palms,
Ebbing and flowing,
Coming and going,
I am the same! and hold through time,
My Empire, peerless and sublime!
Whoever, whatever the kings my be
Of the arrogant earth, I am the Sea!