Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
By the Margin of the Great DeepA. E. (George William Russell) (18671935)
W
All its vaporous sapphire, violet glow and silver gleam,
With their magic flood me through the gateway of the eyes;
I am one with the twilight’s dream.
Every heart of man is rapt within the mother’s breast:
Full of peace and sleep and dreams in the vasty quietude,
I am one with their hearts at rest.
Stray’d away along the margin of the unknown tide,
All its reach of soundless calm can thrill me far above
Word or touch from the lips beside.
From the olden fountain more than light or peace or dream,
Such primaeval being as o’erfills the heart with awe
Growing one with its silent stream.