Marine Study, A

A cloudless sky, without a bird to dot 
   Its pale-blue dome and opalescent base, 
   A waveless sea, grey-leaden, with no trace 
Of human life,—white sail, or inky blot 
Of the steam-saurian's panting, loud and hot,—
   Nor of leviathan snorting in his place. 
   All round me silence and unbroken space; 
All under, mystery that the sun knows not, —
   The unrisen sun whose herald glories tint 
The illumined east with molten chrysolite. 
   Not yet the couriers of fleet South Wind print 
   The cool deep with blue dimples, the far hint 
Of her invisible coming: Life and Light, 
Breathless and circumfused, pervade the infinite!