My life is like a stroll upon the beach,
  As near the ocean’s edge as I can go;
My tardy steps its waves sometimes o’erreach,
  Sometimes I stay to let them overflow.

My sole employment is, and scrupulous care,
  To place my gains beyond the reach of...

From the German by Charles Timothy Brooks

THE WATERS purled, the waters swelled,—
  A fisher sat near by,
And earnestly his line beheld
  With tranquil heart and eye;
And while he sits and watches there,
  He sees the waves divide,
And, lo...