What can I sing to thee

Oh! thrice-beloved sea?

What words can paint thy grace,

The beauty of thy face,

Enrapt with ecstasy?

Fling up thy foamy arms,

Laden with cooling balms,

And touch me where I stand

Here on the yearning land,

With soft embrace that calms.

I gaze into thine eyes,

Where mystic shadow lies,

And lovelights glow and gleam

Within their emerald beam,

And passion lives and dies—

Until my heart grows still

Beneath thy magic will,

And I can hear and see

Naught but thy song and thee,

That seems the world to fill.

Upon thy swelling breast

Restless and yet at rest,

My spirit floats and sings,

While Summer laughs and springs

From off thy snow-white crest.

Behold my hot desire

For thee to quench the fire,

With dewy kiss that slips

From thy divine, wet lips,

Making my joy entire.

Lift up thine endless song,

And echo it along

Until all space rejoice,

In thine enchanted voice,

That sounds so sweet and strong.

Until the rocks and beach

Break forth in answering speech,

And every listening shell

Some praise of thee can tell;

Some joy of thee can teach.

Oh, sea that knows no death!

Oh, life-inspiring breath!

The heart of me would praise

The soul in me would sing

To that eternal Spring

Beneath thy heaving breast,

Where lurk the depths of rest,

The end of everything.