Classic Poem

Have you been at Miramar?
Have you walked along the sand?
Eaten melons in the shade
Of the crumbling cliffs that stand
Ankle-deep in weed and drift?
Have you watched the children wade
Laughing in the breakers' froth?
Have you lain in dreamy sloth,
Lain and let the white sand sift
Through your fingers, listening
To the laughter and the shout
Of the heedless happy rout,
To the rolling rhythmic roar
Of the curving glistening
Slow breakers as they pour
Their gold-green crests along the shore?
Have you watched the white clouds sail,
And the far black ships go by;
While you framed a patchwork tale
Aimless as a sea-bird's cry,
Adding fancies each to each
In idle rounds of pleasant speech,
With laughter; till the sun went down
Trailing over sea and sky
The roseate cloud-embroidered splendid
Fringes of his orient gown;
Till the quiet night descended
From the mountain, sweet with blended
Odors from the gardens high
Along the cliff-top? By and by,
When the stars burned bright and clear,
Through the stillness did you hear
The poignant summons of a far
Faint bugle-echo, sounding “Taps;”
And climb the cliffs, and looking back
Towards the ocean vast and black,
Stand a moment, closer prest
Each to each, and feel the soul
Slough its mortal bonds and flow
In sweet commingling with the slow
Strange tide of beauty, till, the goal
Of Being all but reached, the charm
Broke like a full-blown bubble; then
With awe-hushed whispers, arm in arm,
Turn to the common way again
And lightly pass to home and rest?
Such a day
Have you spent in such a way?
Then perhaps
You know the magic
And the tragic
Meaning of the simple-seeming
Phrase that glimmers through my dreaming
Like a star: