Poems (Sill)/Tranquillity
EARY, and marred with care and painAnd bruising days, the human brainDraws wounded inward,—it might beSome delicate creature of the sea,That, shuddering, shrinks its lucent dome,And coils its azure tendrils home,And folds its filmy curtains tightAt jarring contact, e'er so light;But let it float away all free,And feel the buoyant, supple seaAmong its tinted streamers swell,Again it spreads its gauzy wings,And, waving its wan fringes, swingsWith rhythmic pulse its crystal bell.
TRANQUILLITY.
EARY, and marred with care and painAnd bruising days, the human brainDraws wounded inward,—it might beSome delicate creature of the sea,That, shuddering, shrinks its lucent dome,And coils its azure tendrils home,And folds its filmy curtains tightAt jarring contact, e'er so light;But let it float away all free,And feel the buoyant, supple seaAmong its tinted streamers swell,Again it spreads its gauzy wings,And, waving its wan fringes, swingsWith rhythmic pulse its crystal bell. So let the mind, with care o'erwrought,Float down the tranquil tides of thought: Calm visions of unending yearsBeyond this little moment's fears;Of boundless regions far from whereThe girdle of the azure airBinds to the earth the prisoned mind.Set free the fancy, till it findBeyond our world a vaster placeTo thrill and vibrate out through space,—As some auroral banner streamsUp through the night in pulsing gleams,And floats and flashes o'er our dreams;There let the whirling planet fallDown—down, till but a glimmering ball,A misty star: and dwindled so,There is no room for care, or woe,Or wish, apart from that one WillThat doth the worlds with music fill.