And O, the wild sea-maiden Drifting through the starlit air, With white arms blossom-laden And the sea-scents in her hair: Sometimes we heard her singing The midnight forest through, Or saw a soft hand flinging Blossoms drenched with starry dew Into the dreaming purple cave; And, sometimes, far and far away Beheld across the glooming wave Beyond the dark lagoon, Beyond the silvery foaming bar, The black bright rock whereon she lay Like a honey-coloured star Singing to the breathless moon, Singing in the silent night Till the stars for sheer delight Closed their eyes, and drowsy birds In the midmost forest spray Took their heads from out their wings, Thinking--it is Ariel sings And we must catch the witching words And sing them o'er by day. V And then, there came a breath, a breath Cool and strange and dark as death, A stealing shadow, not of the earth But fresh and wonder-wild as birth. I know not when the hour began That changed the child's heart in the man, Or when the colours began to wane, But all our roseate island lay Stricken, as when an angel dies With wings of rainbow-tinctured grain Withering, and his radiant eyes Closing. Pitiless walls of grey Gathered around us, a growing tomb From which it seemed not death or doom Could roll the stone away. VI Yet--I remember-- a gleam, a gleam, (Or ever I dreamed that youth could die!) Of sparkling waves and warm blue sky As out of sleep into a dream, Wonder-wild for the old sweet pain, We sailed into that unknown sea Through the gates of Eternity. Peacefully close your mortal eyes For ye shall wake to it again In Paradise, in Paradise. UNITY I Heart of my heart, the world is young; Love lies hidden in every rose! Every song that the skylark sung Once, we thought, must come to a close: Now we know the spirit of song, Song that is merged in the chant of the whole, Hand in hand as we wander along, What should we doubt of the years that roll? II Heart of my heart, we cannot die! Love triumphant in flower and tree, Every life that laughs at the sky Tells us nothing can cease to be: One, we are one with a song to-day, One with the clover that scents the wold, One with the Unknown, far away, One with the stars, when earth grows old. III Heart of my heart, we are one with the wind, One with the clouds that are whirled o'er the lea, One in many, O broken and blind, One as the waves are at one with the sea! Ay! when life seems scattered apart, Darkens, ends as a tale that is told, One, we are one, O heart of my heart, One, still one, while the world grows old. THE HILL-FLOWER