Page:Genius, and other essays.djvu/238

GENIUS AND OTHER ESSAYS of peace rather than of war. It expresses, no less, his passion for the sea and his comprehension of it. Like that older bard of our Eastern Coast, he had the key to ocean's book of mystery; he loved its tides and eddies, the shells and flotsam along its shores, its laughter and mist and surge. The ships upon its bosom, the derelicts that never reached their "Haven-Mother," charmed his imagination. Finally, one may note how, throughout his swift and crowded experience, his sense of reverence was never dulled. The lines entitled "The Winds and the Sea Obey Him" came from no frivolous heart. As he looked out upon the waters, he was moved to write that "amid a vexing multitude of creeds" his faith abided still. "The Spirit of Mid-Ocean"—at once his valediction and a vivid token of his birthright as a poet—closes with unaffected homage to the Source whence inspiration flows to every soul—to each according to his degree and need:

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