Classic Poem

The wave broke in, and the star came up
O'er the flower in the fields by the sea
And the purple vault of the evening sky
Domed pale above the three.

The long wave rose, an elfin wall,
And bent, a flickering crown,
And from its fields the lonely flower
Cried out, the sands adown.

“I oped to many a golden morn
I close to many an eve
Yon, gleam, a pearly ridge, and break
A stain of froth to leave.”

Then from the far star's burning tongue
Its loosened thunders came
“You bloom and break, a petal-ring
I dwell a deathless flame.”

The wave upon the yellow floors
Cast down its dazzling crown
And gurgling all its grey old throats
The hungry sea drew down.

And days went by: the frost-fangs bit
The hoarse blasts came and went
And broken in the furrows bare
The fiery flower lay rent.

Aeons went by: and in the night
An old light's race was run
Blasted and bitter dark, the star
Sank in its blinding sun.

But when the soul out of the wave
At God's feet broke, in rest,
There rose a new star in his crown
A new flower on his breast.