  Lightly let the boat go drifting, Neither hand nor oar uplifting, Let no motion fret the ocean, and no sail be now unfurled; Stranger than Aladdin’s story, Lo, the dream-surpassing glory And the marvel unimagined of the limpid underworld! Gaze within the magic mirror Of the water, crystal clearer Than the gleaming glass enchanted, made by Merlin’s sorcery And behold the secrets hidden Through the ages, till unbidden Sons of men came sailing, sailing down the blue Pacific sea. See the pearl-encrusted portals Of the caverns, wherein mortals Dare not pierce with earthly vision, dare not fare with feet profane; Coral-columned halls with golden Thrones in emerald deeps withholden, Lit with sparkling amber splendor, where the merry mermen reign. From their gardens underlying All the rare, transparent surface of this sunny, southern sea; Grasses, shot with silver spangles, Wreathed and caught in starry tangles Of the purple ocean-pansy and the fringed anemone. And the brilliant sea-weeds scattered Like a gay mosaic shattered In a million shining fragments over all the ocean floor; While the bright-hued fish go darting In swift journeys, meeting, parting, Weaving gold and scarlet patterns through the water evermore. Through the light that throbs and quivers Down the depths, and breaks and shivers Into splintered flakes of brightness, that so melt and interfuse Into all such strangest ranges Of translucent color changes, That the eye is thrilled, bewildered, with their rare enchanting hues. —Ah, would thus upon the gleaming Southern sea, in happy dreaming, We might drift and drift forever! never shoreward guide the keel! Azure skies, forever smiling, Into visions sweet beguiling, And beneath our boat the splendor of those rosy dreams made real! |
|
