Horses of Neptune that bound and dash Maddened with fear at the tempest’s lash, Pawing the sand with their thudding feet In a crashing rhythm of thunderous beat, Swift as the startled winds they race, Straining ever at fleeter pace; Forms that curve where the billows comb, Breasting a welter of seething foam, What unseen riders spur them on In a fierce stampede to be up and gone? Out of the hoary deep they come, Surging on with a booming roar, Pounding ever along the shore, Till the senses whirl and the ear grows numb. Manes that stream in the wind swept spume, Necks that arch in the breakers’ crest, Hoofs resounding like drums of doom, Rearing forward with frantic zest, Wild are the steeds of the storm scarred deep! Trident driven, they plunge and leap, With nostrils spread and their eyes aglow, And fetlocks gripped by the undertow, Boisterous, raging, uncanny steeds Out of an ocean waste that breeds Chargers fit for a sea god’s needs - Neptune’s coursers, untamed and free, Fleeing the wrath of the unknown sea! TO A SPIDER WEB WET WITH DEW Suspended o’er the grass there floats a web More delicate than strands of gossamer Wet with the morning dew, in pendant gems That flame with reds and greens and darting blues From the bright sun. A filmy nothingness Made visible by jeweled drops and etched, Like frosted silver, on a background dark Of drooping pines. An airy talisman As lustrous as a diamond necklace draped About a Peri’s throat. What fleeting glimpse Of loveliness ethereal and unreal Inspired that rapt enchantment of design, That harp of strings attuned to elfin songs, That ladder for the moonsprites nightly trail From sky to earth. What miracle of line, What shimmering grace, what witchery of form! So fragile that a fallen leaf may rend Its warp of magic ne’er to know the woof Of hard reality. A diagram Of elfin tracery impalpable; Each angle and its intersections squared By that grotesque geometer who spins Unseen, a hateful spider, ogre grim To all the insect world. Can ugliness So venomous create a thing so fair Beyond the range of art? In pensive mood We pause a moment to admire and scan Its meaning. Can such fairy elegance Spring from so foul a source? Yet legends tell How crippled Vulcan, grimed with dust and smoke, In darkness wrought the glorious shield of Mars. The water lily, blossom honey sweet, Draws nectar from the mire. Nor time nor bounds May curb that hidden beauty that wells up From secret springs in nooks obscure and dark, Till gems of dew upon a spider’s web Glow like the Pleiades in frosted skies. [Illustration] THE DUNES