Purple headland over yonder,
 Fleecy, sun-extinguished moon,
I am here alone, and ponder
 On the theme of Afternoon.

Past has made a groove for Present,
 And what fits it is : no more.
Waves before the wind are weighty;
 Strongest sea-beats shape the shore.

Just what is is just what can be,
 And the Possible is free;
'Tis by being, not by effort,
 That the firm cliff juts to sea.

With an uncontentious calmness
 Drifts the Fact before the ‘Law’;
So we name the ordered sequence
 We, remembering, foresaw.

And a law is mere procession
 Of the forcible and fit;
Calm of uncontested Being,
 And our thought that comes of it.

In the mellow shining daylight
 Lies the Afternoon at ease,
Little willing ripples answer
 To a drift of casual breeze.

Purple headland to the westward!
 Ebbing tide, and fleecy moon!
In the ‘line of least resistance’,
 Flows the life of Afternoon.