Song of the Sea Lover

O, the sea! the sea! the wonderful sea!
    With its never-ending psalm –
A voice of the infinite, breathed to me,
    In the hour of storm of calm.

There Grandeur sits on his awful throne
    To thrill me with solemn joy;
There Beauty trips in her purple zone,
    With charms that never cloy.

O, then for a cot on the green sea-side,
    In the sound of the billowy roar,
Where the great waves toss in their crested bride,
    And dance on the rocky shore.

Let the red walls glare on the prisoned cit, 
    With his feet to the blistering flag;
With a whoop I’ll leap where the breakers split
    Snow-cool on the whitened crag.

I will sit on the rock when the sun comes up
    And purples the foaming deep,
‘Till it gleams like the wine of a Titan’s cup,
    And laugh as the bubbles leap.

I’ll bare my brow to the landward breeze,
    And take its virgin kiss
Before, in the arms of the wooling trees,
    It swoons to a breathless bliss.

My boat shall swing on the swaying tide
    When the sun flames back from the west,
A path of glory, so long and wide,
    Across the ocean’s breast.

I will watch the whirl of the twisted stars
    In the wrinkling under-sky,
That seem, glee-mad, to have leapt the bars
    Of their azure home on high.

And the great white moon, whom the waves obey,
    Shall silver the dark-green colls
Before my keel, while the witch-fires play
    Behind, where the cleft wave bolts.

The murmuring of the surge shall be
    A lullaby sublime;
The voice of the everlasting sea
    Through all my dreams shall chime.

O, then for a cot on the green sea-side,
    In the sound of the billowy roar.
Where the great waves toss in their crested pride,
    And dance on the rocky shore.