The pearly treasures of the sea,
The lights that spatter heaven above,
More precious than these wonders are
My heart-of-hearts filled with your love.
The ocean's power, the heavenly sights
Cannot outweigh a love filled heart.
And sparkling stars or glowing pearls
Pale as love flashes, beams and darts.
So, little, youthful maiden come
...
They wait all day unseen by us, unfelt;
Patient they bide behind the day’s full glare;
And we, who watched the dawn when they were there,
Thought we had seen them in the daylight melt,
While the slow sun upon the earth-line knelt.
Because the teeming sky seemed void and bare,
When we explored it through the dazzled air,
We had no thought...
Tell me what sail the seas
Under the stars?
Ships, and ships’ companies,
Off to the wars.
Steel are the ship’s great sides,
Steel are her guns,
Backward she thrusts the tides,
Swiftly she runs;
Steel is the sailor’s heart,
Stalwart his arm,
His the Republic’s part
Through cloud and storm....
When stars are in the quiet skies,
Then most I pine for thee;
Bend on me then thy tender eyes,
As stars look on the sea!
For thoughts, like waves that glide by night,
Are stillest when they shine;
Mine earthly love lies hushed in light
Beneath the heaven of thine.
There is an hour when angels keep
Familiar...
The Stars are old, that stood for me —
The West a little worn —
Yet newer glows the only Gold
I ever cared to earn —
Presuming on that lone result
Her infinite disdain
But vanquished her with my defeat
'Twas Victory was slain.
Trusty as the stars
Who quit their shining working
Prompt as when I lit them
In Genesis' new house,
Durable as dawn
Whose antiquated blossom
Makes a world's suspense
Perish and rejoice.
