Man in Nature

Climbing up the hillside beneath the summer stars
I listen to the murmur of the drowsy ebbing sea;
The newly-risen moon has loosed her silver zone
On the undulating waters where the ships are sailing free.

O moon, and O stars, and O drowsy summer sea.
Drawing thy tide from the city up the bay,
I know how you will look and what your bounds must be,
When we and our sons have forever passed away.

You shall not change, but a nobler race of men
Shall walk beneath the stars and wander by the shore;
I cannot guess their glory, but I think the sky and sea
Will bring to them more gladness than they brought to us of yore.