Classic Poem

Earth, air, sea
Await with gifts for me;
Spirits in air
New songs for me prepare;
The sun-drenched earth,
The foam-fringe of the sea,
Each airy star's gold girth,
Each wave's monotony —
These, these, burst through with song
The wintry heart of me!
Now morning: The deep crystal dawn turns pale
Toward divine ravings of some nightingale
Where flushed waves wring their hovering hands
Along Hesperidean sands —
Where soon this winter-weary frame I 'll fling
And, glowing, sing!
Too long I heard, before the early light,
Waves lashing on their armor in the night —
Crashing of oceans, spear on shield!
Now, a sweet field,
Pallid as cool, damp, shadowy lands
Where rest the wise, brave bands
Of them whose wars are o'er;
The tint of asphodel
Just lit that early shore
Where to the spray it fell,
And the white spray
Grew redder as the day
Rose to the rhythm of time.