HAMPTON BEACH. And all we shrink from now may seem No new revealing, Familiar as our childhood's stream, Or pleasant memory of a dream, The loved and cherished Past upon the new life A luminous belt, a misty light, stealing Beyond the dark pine bluffs and wastes of sandy gray. Serene and mild, the untried light May have its dawning; And, as in summer's northern night The evening and the dawn unite, The sunset hues of Time blend with the soul's Of silvery light, rock, hill, and tree, Still as a picture, clear and free, new morning. With varying outline mark the coast for miles I sit alone; in foam and spray around. Wave after wave Breaks on the rocks which, stern and gray On - on — we tread with loose-flung rein Shoulder the broken tide away, Or murmurs hoarse and strong through mossy Through dark-green fields and blossoming cleft and cave. grain, Where the wild brier-rose skirts the lane, What heed I of the dusty land And bends above our heads the flowering locust And noisy town? spray. I see the mighty deep expand From its white line of glimmering sand Ha! like a kind hand on my brow To where the blue of heaven on bluer waves Comes this fresh breeze, shuts down! Cooling its dull and feverish glow, While through my being seems to flow In listless quietude of mind, The breath of a new life, – the healing of the I yield to all seas! The change of cloud and wave and wind; And passive on the flood reclined, grassy I wander with the waves, and with them rise and fall. In the great waters, which have bound But look, thou dreamer ! wave and shore His granite ankles greenly round In shadow lie; With long and tangled moss, and weeds with cool spray wet. The night-wind warns me back once more To where, my native hill-tops o'er, Good by to pain and care! I take Bends like an arch of fire the glowing sunset Mine ease to-day; sky! Here, where the sunny waters break, So then, beach, bluff, and wave, farewell ! And ripples this keen breeze, I shake I bear with me All burdens from the heart, all weary thoughts No token stone nor glittering shell, away. But long and oft shall Memory tell I draw a freer breath - I seem Of this brief thoughtful hour of musing by the Like all I see — JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. Waves in the sun the white-winged gleam Of sea-birds in the slanting beam And far-off sails which flit before the south-wind free. SEA-WEED. sea. So when Time's veil shall fall asunder, The soul may know Nor sink the weight of mystery under, grow. WHEN descends on the Atlantic The gigantic The toiling surges, |