| |
THE ROCK I AM the Rock, presumptuous Sea! | |
| I am set to encounter thee. | |
| Angry and loud, or gentle and still, | |
| I am set here to limit thy power, and I will— | |
| I am the Rock! | 5 |
| |
| I am the Rock. From age to age | |
| I scorn thy fury and dare thy rage. | |
| Scarred by frost and worn by time, | |
| Brown with weed and green with slime, | |
| Thou mayst drench and defile me and spit in my face, | 10 |
| But while I am here thou keep’st thy place! | |
| I am the Rock! | |
| |
| I am the Rock, beguiling Sea! | |
| I know thou art fair as fair can be, | |
| With golden glitter and silver sheen, | 15 |
| And bosom of blue and garments of green. | |
| Thou mayst pat my cheek with baby hands, | |
| And lap my feet in diamond sands, | |
| And play before me as children play; | |
| But plead as thou wilt, I bar the way! | 20 |
| I am the Rock! | |
| |
| I am the Rock. Black midnight falls; | |
| The terrible breakers rise like walls; | |
| With curling lips and gleaming teeth | |
| They plunge and tear at my bones beneath. | 25 |
| Year upon year they grind and beat | |
| In storms of thunder and storms of sleet— | |
| Grind and beat and wrestle and tear, | |
| But the rock they beat on is always there! | |
| I am the Rock! | 30 |
| |
THE SEA I am the Sea. I hold the land | |
| As one holds an apple in his hand. | |
| Hold it fast with sleepless eyes, | |
| Watching the continents sink and rise. | |
| Out of my bosom the mountains grow, | 35 |
| Back to its depths they crumble slow: | |
| The earth is a helpless child to me— | |
| I am the Sea! | |
| |
| I am the Sea. When I draw back | |
| Blossom and verdure follow my track, | 40 |
| And the land I leave grows proud and fair, | |
| For the wonderful race of man is there; | |
| And the winds of heaven wail and cry | |
| While the nations rise and reign and die— | |
| Living and dying in folly and pain, | 45 |
| While the laws of the universe thunder in vain. | |
| What is the folly of man to me? | |
| I am the Sea! | |
| |
| I am the Sea. The earth I sway; | |
| Granite to me is potter’s clay; | 50 |
| Under the touch of my careless waves | |
| It rises in turrets and sinks in caves; | |
| The iron cliffs that edge the land | |
| I grind to pebbles and sift to sand, | |
| And beach-grass bloweth and children play | 55 |
| In what were the rocks of yesterday; | |
| It is but a moment of sport to me— | |
| I am the Sea! | |
| |
| I am the Sea. In my bosom deep | |
| Wealth and Wonder and Beauty sleep; | 60 |
| Wealth and Wonder and Beauty rise | |
| In changing splendor of sunset skies, | |
| And comfort the earth with rains and snows | |
| Till waves the harvest and laughs the rose. | |
| Flower and forest and child of breath | 65 |
| With me have life—without me, death. | |
| What if the ships go down in me?— | |
| I am the Sea! | |
| |
