Seaweed

WHEN descends on the Atlantic 
The gigantic 
Storm-wind of the equinox  
Landward in his wrath he scourges 
The toiling surges 5 
Laden with seaweed from the rocks: 

From Bermuda's reefs; from edges 
Of sunken ledges  
In some far-off bright Azore; 
From Bahama and the dashing 10 
Silver-flashing 
Surges of San Salvador; 

From the tumbling surf that buries 
The Orkneyan skerries  
Answering the hoarse Hebrides; 15 
And from wrecks of ships and drifting 
Spars uplifting 
On the desolate rainy seas;¡ª 

Ever drifting drifting drifting 
On the shifting 20 
Currents of the restless main; 
Till in sheltered coves and reaches 
Of sandy beaches  
All have found repose again.
 

So when storms of wild emotion 25 
Strike the ocean 
Of the poet's soul erelong 
From each cave and rocky fastness  
In its vastness  
Floats some fragment of a song: 30 

From the far-off isles enchanted  
Heaven has planted 
With the golden fruit of Truth; 
From the flashing surf whose vision 
Gleams Elysian 35 
In the tropic clime of Youth; 

From the strong Will and the Endeavor 
That forever 
Wrestle with the tides of Fate; 
From the wreck of Hopes far-scattered 40 
Tempest-shattered  
Floating waste and desolate;¡ª 

Ever drifting drifting drifting 
On the shifting 
Currents of the restless heart; 45 
Till at length in books recorded  
They like hoarded 
Household words no more depart.

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