Deep in the wave is a coral grove,
Where the purple mullet and gold-fish rove,
Where the sea-flower spreads its leaves of blue,
That never are wet with falling dew,
But in bright and changeful beauty shine,
Far down in the green and glassy brine.
The floor is of sand like the mountain drift
And the pearl-shells spangle the flinty snow;...
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Toil on! toil on! ye ephemeral train,
Who build in the tossing and treacherous main;
Toil on! for the wisdom of man ye mock,
With your sand-based structure and domes of rock,
Your columns the fathomless fountains’ cave,
And your arches spring up to the crested wave;
Ye ’re a puny race thus to boldly rear
A fabric so vast in a realm so... -
From “The Pelican Island”
EVERY one,
By instinct taught, performed its little task,—
To build its dwelling and its sepulchre,
From its own essence exquisitely modelled;
There breed, and die, and leave a progeny,
Still multiplied beyond the reach of numbers,
To frame new cells and tombs; then breed and die... -
TOIL on! toil on! ye ephemeral train,
Who build in the tossing and treacherous main
Toil on! for the wisdom of man ye mock,
With your sand-based structures and domes of rock,
Your columns the fathomless fountains' lave,
And your arches spring up to the crested wave;
Ye're a puny race thus to boldly...