Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.

New England: Rye, N. H.

Voices of the Sea

By Thomas Durfee (1826–1901)

ON the lone rocks of Rye,

When the day grows dimmer,

And the stars from the sky

Shed a tremulous glimmer,

While the low winds croon,

And the waves, as they glisten,

Complain to the moon,

I linger and listen.

All the magical whole

Of shadow and splendor

Steals into my soul,

Majestic yet tender;

And the desolate main,

Like a sibyl intoning

Her mystical strain,

Keeps ceaselessly moaning.

I hear it spell-bound,

All its myriad voices,—

Its wandering sound,

And my spirit rejoices;

For out of the deep

And the distance it crieth,

And, deep unto deep,

My spirit replieth.