‘ T was down among the Thimble Isles That strew for many “liquid miles” The waters of Long Island Sound: Our yacht lay in a cove; around
The rocky isles with cedars green And channels winding in between: And here a low, black reef was spread, And there a sunken “nigger-head”
Dimpled the surface of the tide. From one tall island's cliffy side We heard the shaggy goats that fed: The gulls wheeled screaming overhead
Or settled in a snowy flock Far out upon the lonely rock Which, like a pillar, seemed to show Some drowned acropolis below.
Meanwhile, in the warm sea about, With many a plunge and jolly shout, Our crew enjoyed their morning bath. The hairy skipper in his wrath
Lay cursing on the gunwale's rim: He loved a dip but could not swim; So, now and then with plank afloat He'd struggle feebly round the boat
And o'er the side climb puffing in, Scraping wide areas off his skin, Then lie and sun each hirsute limb Once more upon the gunwale's rim
And shout, with curses unavailing, “Come out! There's wind: let's do some sailing.” A palm-leaf hat, that here and there Bobbed on the water, showed him where
Some venturous swimmer outward bound Escaped beyond his voice's sound. All heedless of their skipper's call, One group fought for the upset yawl.
The conqueror sat astride the keel And deftly pounded with his heel The hands that clutched his citadel, Which showed — at distance — like the shell
Round which, unseen, the Naiad train Sport naked on the middle main. Myself had drifted far away, Meanwhile, from where the sail-boat lay,
Till all unbroken I could hear The wave's low whisper in my ear, And at the level of mine eye The blue vibration met the sky.
Sometimes upon my back I lay And watched the clouds, while I and they Were wafted effortless along.— Sudden I seemed to hear a song:
Yet not a song, but some weird strain As though the inarticulate main Had found a voice whose human tone Interpreted its own dull moan;
Its foamy hiss; its surfy roar; Its gentle lapping on the shore; Its noise of subterranean waves That grumble in the sea-cliff caves;
Its whish among the drifting miles Of gulf-weed from the Indian Isles:— All — all the harmonies were there Which ocean makes with earth or air.
Turning I saw a sunken ledge Bared by the ebb, along whose edge The matted sea-weed dripped: thereon, Betwixt the dazzle of the sun
And the blue shimmer of the sea, I saw — or else I seemed to see A mermaid, crooning a wild song, Combing with arm uplifted long
The hair that shed its meshes black Down the slope whiteness of her back. She held a mirror in her hand, Wherein she viewed sky, sea, and land,
Her beauty's background and its frame. But now, as toward the rock I came, All suddenly across the glass Some startling image seemed to pass;
For her song rose into a scream, Over her shoulders one swift gleam Of eyes unearthly fell on me, And,‘ twixt the flashing of the sea
And the blind dazzle of the sun, I saw the rock, but thereupon She sat no longer‘ gainst the blue; Only across the reef there flew
One snow-white tern and vanished too. But, coasting that lone island round, Among the slippery kelp I found A little oval glass that lay
Upturned and flashing in the ray Of the down-looking sun. Thereto With scarce believing eyes I drew And took it captive
A while there I rested in the mermaid's lair, And felt the merry breeze that blew, And watched the sharpies as they flew,
And snuffed the sea's breath thick with brine, And basked me in the sun's warm shine; Then with my prize I made my way Once more to where the sail-boat lay.
I kept the secret — and the glass; By day across its surface pass The transient shapes of common things Which chance within its oval brings.
But when at night I strive to sound The darkness of its face profound, Again I seem to hear the breeze That curls the waves on summer seas;
I see the isles with cedars green; The channels winding in between; The coves with beaches of white sand; The reefs where warning spindles stand;
And, through the multitudinous shimmer Of waves and sun, again the glimmer Of eyes unearthly falls on me, Deep with the mystery of the sea.
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