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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Chambered Nautilus 



This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, 



Sails the unshadowed main, — 



The venturous bark that flings 

 On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings 

 In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings, 



And coral reefs lie bare, 

 Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. 



Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl; 



Wrecked is the ship of pearl! 



And every chambered cell, 

 Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, 

 As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell, 



Before thee lies revealed, — 

 Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed! 



Year after year beheld the silent toil 



That spread his lustrous coil; 



Still, as the spiral grew, 

 He left the past year's dwelling for the new, 

 Stole with soft step its shining archway through, 



Built up its idle door, 

 Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. 



'•THIS IS THE SHIP OF PEARL"— THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS. 



