Flower o' the wave, White foam of the waters, The many-coloured: Here blue as a hare-bell, Here pale as the turquoise; Here green as the grasses Of mountain hollows, Here lucent as jade when wet in the sunshine, Here paler than apples ere ruddied by autumn. Depths o' the purple! Amethyst yonder, Yonder as ling on the hills of October, With shadows as deep, Where islets of sea-wrack Wave in the shallows, As the sheen of the feathers On the blue-green breast Of the bird of the Orient, The splendid peacock. Foam o' the waves, White crests ashine With a dazzle of sunlight! Here the low breakers are rolling through shallows, Yellow and muddied, the hue of the topaz Ere cut from the boulder; Save when the sunlight swims through them slantwise, When inward they roll Long billows of amber, Crowned with pale yellow And grey-green spume. Here wan grey their slopes Where the broken lights reach them, Dull grey of pearl, and dappled, and darkling, As when 'mid the high Northward drift of the clouds; Scirocco bloweth With soft fanning breath. Foam o' the waves, Blown blossoms of ocean, White flowers of the waters, The many-coloured. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN THE TWILIGHT by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE PLUMPUPPETS by CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON MORLEY GOOD FRIDAY (1) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI MERLIN AND THE GLEAM by ALFRED TENNYSON BRUCE: JAMES OF DOUGLAS by JOHN BARBOUR UNDER THE TREES by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |