THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS. 



This is the ship of pearl, which, poets fei<4n, 



Sails the Linshadowed main, 



The venturous bark that Hings 

 On the sweet summer wind its purpled winj^s 

 In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sin,<4S, 



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 his shining archwa}' through. 



Built up its idle door, 

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



Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee. 



Child of the wandering sea. 



Cast from her lap, forlorn! 

 From thy dead lips a clearer note is born. 

 Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn! 



While on mine ear it rings. 

 Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: 



Build thee more stately mansions, O m\- soul, 



As the swift seasons roll! 



Leave th}' low-vaulted past! 

 Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 

 Shut thee from heaven with a dome more \ast. 



Till thou at length art free. 

 Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! 



Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



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