And there we wandered evermore Thro' boyhood's everlasting years, Listening the murmur of the shore As one that lifts a shell and hears The murmur of forgotten seas Around some lost Broceliande, The sigh of sweet Eternities That turn the world to fairy-land,
That turned our isle to a single pearl Glowing in measureless waves of wine! Above, below, the clouds would curl, Above, below, the stars would shine In sky and sea. We hung in heaven! Time and space were but elfin-sweet Rock-bound pools for the dawn and even To wade with their rosy feet.
Our pirate cavern faced the West: We closed its door with screens of palm, While some went out to seek the nest Wherein the Phoenix, breathing balm, Burns and dies to live for ever (How should we dream we lived to die?) And some would fish in the purple river That thro' the hills brought down the sky.
And some would dive in the lagoon Like sunbeams, and all round our isle Swim thro' the lovely crescent moon, Glimpsing, for breathless mile on mile, The wild sea-woods that bloomed below, The rainbow fish, the coral cave Where vanishing swift as melting snow A mermaid's arm would wave.
Then dashing shoreward thro' the spray On sun-lit sands they cast them down, Or in the white sea-daisies lay With sun-stained bodies rosy-brown, Content to watch the foam-bows flee Across the shelving reefs and bars, With wild eyes gazing out to sea Like happy haunted stars.
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.
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.