University of Virginia Library

29   The aria sinking;
All else continuing — the stars shining,
The winds blowing — the notes of the bird continuous      echoing,
With angry moans the fierce old mother incessantly      moaning,
On the sands of Paumanok's shore, gray and rustling;
The yellow half-moon enlarged, sagging down, droop-     ing, the face of the sea almost touching;
The boy extatic — with his bare feet the waves, with      his hair the atmosphere dallying,
The love in the heart long pent, now loose, now at last      tumultuously bursting,
The aria's meaning, the ears, the Soul, swiftly deposit-     ing,
The strange tears down the cheeks coursing,
The colloquy there — the trio — each uttering,
The undertone — the savage old mother, incessantly      crying,
To the boy's Soul's questions sullenly timing — some      drown'd secret hissing,
To the outsetting bard of love.