Classic Poem

I am the Earth, and you the Sea:
Against my rocks your billows roll,
And flood with surging melody
The silent caverns of my soul.

You smile; you dance; you leap; you sing;
You make what music you desire.
Your surges are a silver string,
My sands are as a golden lyre.

You pluck a chord, and I become
Laughter, or music, or a sigh.
I, who am scarred, and old, and dumb,
To every touch of yours reply.

I, who am frozen through and through,
I, who have neither youth nor grace,
Grow molten when I meet with you,
Grow passionate in your embrace.

You federate my East and West,
You interweave my North and South,
By the wide billows of your breast,
And the warm kisses of your mouth.

The argosy of all my dreams
Is by your supple arms upborne,
And o'er your rounded shoulder gleams
The rosy visage of the Morn.

O Singer, Dreamer, Lover mine,
I am the Earth, and you the Sea,
Our surges and our rocks combine
To make a perfect harmony.

My dimples comprehend your deep,
My rugged silence makes your song,
My precipices lower steep,
Because your leaping heart is strong.

I have no shore you do not know,
No hollow that you cannot fill;
All round my world there ebb and flow
The choral currents of your will.

Your waves caress my sharpest cliff,
Your surges sing in every chime,
And though my hand is rough and stiff,
Your fingers nestle into mine.

Also the breezes you reveal
By rippling touch and gentle tune,
And through your swelling tides I feel
The sweet persuasion of the moon.

And learn the transcendental law
Which makes a million systems one —
The subtle central bonds that draw
Planet to planet, sun to sun.

Till at the very core of Space,
Throned in Infinity afar,
I find the Soul in whose embrace
Are Earth, and Sea, and Sun, and Star.

Thus is my life enriched by you,
Yet you are saturate with me.
Behold, my little drops of dew
Are federated in your sea.

My hills' hard hands draw down the rain,
And pour it forth to make your flood,
Each river-artery and vein
Brings you the tribute of its blood.

Though seeming twain, yet we are one,
Though seeming free, yet bound we are, —
Drawn soul to soul by every sun,
Held heart to heart by every star.

I cannot, dare not let you go,
Nor can you tear yourself from me;
A million stars and planets know
I am the Earth, and you the Sea.