Page:A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields.djvu/127

96 It hails with a hymn, immense and sublime, Which has resounded through æons of time: Its universal blue, its wide wide expanse Shelters the stars that there tremble and dance; It has a rude force, a mercy superb, For it roots up a rock, and spares an herb; It throws like thee on proud summits its foam; Inconstant, it loves round the world to roam; Only—it never deceives when, with eye Fixed on its surface, one watches it nigh From some rock or the sands, pensive, alone, Spell-bound by its murmur, grand, monotone; It never deceives, for though it is free It obeys a high law unceasingly; It never deceives, for true to the hour Rises its tide, O People, in power, Overwhelming, resistless, and fierce to devour.