IN the coiled shell sounds Ocean's distant roar, Oft to our listening hearts come heavenly strains; -- Men say, "That was the blood in our own veins, And this, -- but the echo of our hope; no more." And yet, the murmuring sea exists, which bore That frail creation o'er its watery plains; And on Time's sands full many a shell remains Tossed by Eternity upon its shore. Its tongue our hope from Nature's self has caught. Matter nor force is lost as aeons roll. And mind? -- Love life conserves and death abates, -- Through the long ages this has nature taught. Under the stars she plights the wistful soul: "Life ruled by Love nor dies nor dissipates." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FIDDLING WOOD by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET A CLEVER WOMAN by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE ZION, OR THE CITY OF GOD by JOHN NEWTON HERTHA by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE WHITE FOR MOURNING by AL-FATA AL-KAFIF THE SPIDER AND THE BEE (A TALE FOR THE TIMES) by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON |