University of Virginia Library


58

II
The Seaside Lake.

A lake beside the ocean's brim,
Where velvet lilies dream and swim,
And rushes nod beside the whisper
Of ripples shimmering faint and dim.
Anear, the yearning tempest cries;
It comes from Love's lost paradise;
It leaps against the barring beaches;
It foams in agony, writhes and dies.
In vain the surges sob and break;
They cannot reach the prisoned lake,
Nor rive the crystal of its ripples,
Nor kiss one silvery flower awake.
O love, our lives are shored apart,
And all the cyclones of my heart
Can never fling one throbbing billow
Among the refuges where thou art.