ADDRESS TO THE DEEP.
WONDROUS, fearful restless Sea,
What have I to do with thee?
Thou so strong, and I so weak,
Ev’n when health is on my cheek;
Now so worn, and sad withal,
Sense of life but sense of thrall;
REST, sole pleasure I would keep,
In the guise of slumber deep;
Yes, but let it dreamless be-
Day hath dreams enough for me,
Ever the vain memory haunting,
Till the vainer heart is panting
After all those visions dear,
So far off, and yet so near-
Roses wet with summer dew,
And the dwellings where they grew,
Many a healthy mountain walk,
Many an evening’s fire-light talk,
Held with friends-no more, no more,
Ocean, let thy boiling roar
Hide in pity from my ear,
Voices, but too kind and dear.
Wild, ferocious, wrathful Sea,
What have I to do with thee?
Never, never won to spare,
Death thy banquet; and despair
With its agonizing cry,
Famine with its horrid eye,
Human misery, human sin,
That which thou delightest in;
Journeying ever, yet unsped;
Still devouring, yet unfed;
With thy dull or deafening roar,
Ever asking, craving more!
Giant of the thousand hands,
Prisoning many lovely lands-
Isles, that midst thy bitter brine,
Harbourless in verdure pine,
Blessing no man, blessed by none-
O that thy dark reign were done!
And thy angel-sentenced doom
Left the world a world of bloom,
And of perfect brotherhood;
Man no more athirst for blood,
Thou, no more, dire element,
Brotherhood’s admeasurement!
Gloomy, weary, restless Sea,
Yes, I have to do with thee;
Not on frame, nor yet in power,
But on evil’s sadder dower:
Have I called thee one dark name
Human spirits may not claim?
Have I blamed in thee a deed
Human nature doth not breed?-
Named one ravage wrought by thee,
Man hath never mated?-Sea,
Deathful, terrible, and strong,
God’s great work, I did thee wrong;
Thou but smit’st at his command-
Thou the weapon, His the hand.
Art thou passive, Human Will?
Answer, human grief and ill!
(Mary Jane Jewsbury)
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