Strange hidden thing, that beats and beats
We know not why,
And makes us live, though we indeed
Would rather die.

Mysterious, fighting, loving thing,
So sad, so true--
I would my laughing eyes some day
Might look on you.


THE SHIMMER OF THE SOUND

In the long shimmer of the Sound
May I some day be laughing found,
Part of its restless to and fro,
A humble worker of the tides
That round the sleepless planet flow,
And in the rock and drift of things--

_(O how the sea-weed sways and swings!
Is it her hair--has she been found
In the long shimmer of the Sound!)_

Do some small task I do not know--
O maybe help the mussel grow,
Or tint the shell-imprisoned pearl--

A mute companion of the waves