CHILD, I beheld thee, one night, swept in by the Tide on this known shore of Being; Naked thou wert, and unfain to be here, and thine eyes were averse to all seeing; Bitter and small was thy first-uttered cry, and filled with unnamed desolation -- Thou, so encompassed by Love and by Joy in their marveling proud salutation! Child, in thy turn, thou shalt see me, rapt by the refluent tide swiftly flowing; All sound shall be stopped from these lips save only the last sigh of breath in outgoing; The face thou shalt watch will grow strange, the word thou wouldst hear -- it shall not be spoken! Then shalt thou sweep the dim seas for a beacon, and storm the locked heavens for token! O child, in that hour of the Ebb, left alone on the ignorant shore, crying, "Whither?" I charge thee, Remember, naught didst thou know of the Tide that once brought thee hither, Loath to thine heritage -- thou, the darling of Life, whom the banquet invited; So much, and no more dost thou know, what awaiteth the outbound pilgrim benighted, What sovereignty royal -- what dream beatific fulfilled in Youth's restoration -- What galaxy crowding in welcome -- what guest-rites -- what marveling proud salutation! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN by JULIA CRAWFORD DAYBREAK by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 92 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI NOREMBEGA by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE VEERY'S FLUTE by LUCY BRANCH ALLEN COME SI QUANDO by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES |