Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.

Naples, the Bay

Song of the Sea

By Rossiter W. Raymond (1840–1918)

I HAVE swung for ages to and fro;

I have striven in vain to reach thy feet,

O garden of joy! whose walls are low,

And odors are so sweet.

I palpitate with fitful love;

I sigh and sing with changing breath;

I raise my hands to heaven above,

I smite my shores beneath!

In vain, in vain! while far and fine,

To curb the madness of my sweep,

Runs the white limit of a line

I may not overleap.

Once thou wert sleeping on my breast,

Till fiery Titans lifted thee

From the fair silence of thy rest,

Out of the loving sea.

And I swing eternal to and fro;

I strive in vain to reach thy feet,

O garden of joy! whose walls are low,

And odors are so sweet!