Here on this sea-beach I wander...

Here on this sea-beach I wander;

Why of the storms am I fonder

Than of the sunlight above them?

And the clouds: why do I love them —

Waves of the sky, onward sweeping,

Or to the ocean-waves leaping?

Why do I court this fierce day,

Dashing my face full of spray?

Why, when the waves strike the shore

With their strong, leonine roar,

Does my soul fiercely entreat them —

Rush out with rapture to meet them?

Why do I love to descry

War in the fields of the sky?

Why does the chain-lightning's glare,

Ploughing blue meadows of air,

Look to my vision alway

Sweet as a star in the day?

You who in fair summer weather

Seek this sea-city together

( Built for tumultuous rest,

With the famed ocean chief guest ),

Not half the pleasure you've known

That I, here wand'ring alone,

On these wet sand-fields have found,

Hearing the ocean's own sound,

Viewing fierce waves from afar

Strive with the winter in war.

Storms that tumultuously roll

Far through my innermost soul —

Here you encounter, at last,

Harmonies wondrous and vast!

What did I find on the shore?

Must I rehearse it once more?