SEAWEEDS 



Below a cliff, where mused a little maid, 



It struck. Its voice in thunder cried, l Beware.' 



But, to delight her, instantly displayed 



A fount of showering diamonds in the air. 



.... The wave passed on; 

 Touching each shore with silver-sandled feet, 

 But tossed, in flying, in the sun which shone, 

 A handful, to her lap, of sea blooms sweet. 



More delicate than forms that frost doth weave 

 On window panes are Ocean's filmy brood; 

 Remembering the awful home they leave, 

 Their hues to that dim underworld subdued. 



Fair spread on pages white, I saw arrayed 



These fairy children of a sire so stern; 



Their beauty charmed me ; while the little maid 



Spoke of her new-found love with cheeks which burn. 



'So grand, so terrible, how could I know 

 He cared for these?' she faltered, ' darlings dear! 

 That his great heart could nurture them and glow 

 With such a love beneath such looks severe?' 



Like God, the Ocean, too, the least can heed, 

 Yearn in a moon-led quest to farthest shores, 

 And fondle in delight its smallest weed, 

 Yet look to Him it mirrors and adores." 



J. G. APPLETON. 

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