Vast promise is the sea, and vast

Vast promise is the sea, and vast
Its pain. Its secret is held fast,--
Now hope's wide open eye and sunny,
And now a weeping and wailing past.

(I have a grievance unredrest
That stings my heart and rends my breast,--
Perhaps it gathers in its bosom
The sorrows wild of the world's opprest?)

Deformity or pain unstrings
The music of the soul of things,--
Ah, suns burn bright in eyes of panther,
And lightnings leap in the eagle's wings!