The Tides

I SAW the long line of the vacant shore,

The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand,

And the brown rocks left bare on every hand,

As if the ebbing tide would flow no more.

Then heard I, more distinctly than before,

The ocean breathe and its great breast expand,

And hurrying came on the defenceless land

The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar.

All thought and feeling and desire, I said,

Love, laughter, and the exultant joy of song

Have ebbed from me forever! Suddenly o’er me

They swept again from their deep ocean bed,

And in a tumult of delight, and strong

As youth, and beautiful as youth, upbore me.