THE ISLET AND THE PALM

O gentle sister spirit, when you smile

My soul is like a lonely coral isle,

An islet shadowed by a single palm,

Ringed round with reef and foam, but inly calm.

And all day long I listen to the speech

Of wind and water on my charmèd beach:

I see far off beyond mine outer shore

The ocean flash, and hear his harmless roar.

And in the night-time when the glorious sun,

With all his life and all his light, is done,

The wind still murmurs in my slender tree,

And shakes the moonlight on the silver sea.