The Ever-hungry {Sea-Sonnet III]

Even as a toothless gray-beard's churning jaw 
   Mumbles a jagged crust, till patient gums 
   Wear from its ridges some reluctant crumbs, 
So have I seen the white-haired Ocean gnaw 
Earth's granite crust; and eldest ages saw 
   The same slow toil in long milleniums! 
   Patient as time, day after day he comes 
Twice to that meagre feast with sateless maw: 
How the long lapping on the coast-line tells! 
   The rock-bound meadows creep into the sea. 
The white waves wander where in sunny dells 
   The shepherd led his fleecy company. 
Keels plough the plains the rustic ploughed before, 
And the fast-anchored isles drift to some distant shore !