THE WATERS purled, the waters swelled,— | |
| A fisher sat near by, | |
| And earnestly his line beheld | |
| With tranquil heart and eye; | |
| And while he sits and watches there, | 5 |
| He sees the waves divide, | |
| And, lo! a maid, with glistening hair, | |
| Springs from the troubled tide. | |
| |
| She sang to him, she spake to him,— | |
| “Why lur’st thou from below, | 10 |
| In cruel mood, my tender brood, | |
| To die in day’s fierce glow? | |
| Ah! didst thou know how sweetly there | |
| The little fishes dwell, | |
| Thou wouldst come down their lot to share, | 15 |
| And be forever well. | |
| |
| “Bathes not the smiling sun at night— | |
| The moon too—in the waves? | |
| Comes he not forth more fresh and bright | |
| From ocean’s cooling caves? | 20 |
| Canst thou unmoved that deep world see, | |
| That heaven of tranquil blue, | |
| Where thine own face is beckoning thee | |
| Down to the eternal dew?” | |
| |
| The waters purled, the waters swelled,— | 25 |
| They kissed his naked feet; | |
| His heart a nameless transport held, | |
| As if his love did greet. | |
| She spake to him, she sang to him; | |
| Then all with him was o’er,— | 30 |
| Half drew she him, half sank he in,— | |
| He sank to rise no more. | |
| |
