Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/373

 A VISIOX OF THE WESTERN WORLD 363

" So do I live from day to day,

Nor think how long my task may be, Working for good through all my way.

Farewell ! I seek my destiny."

" Spirit," I cried, "one moment stay!

O, tell me, whither dost thou tend ? Answer, if thou hast power to say 1

Where will thy life's long labors end ? "

" Ask Him," said he, " who bade me wend

My way unquestioned to the sea. With the broad ocean soon I blend,

There wait what work remains for me.

" Perhaps in clouds and mist my form

Shall from the ocean's breast exhale. Descend once more in gloom and storm,

And bless once more each thirsty vale.

" Perhaps, absorbed within the sea,

My restless waves shall cease to roll, And, mingling with immensity,

Blend formless in the unbounded whole.

" Ask me not how, nor when, nor where ;

Still to flow on is my behest ; Duty — 'tis but for that I care ;

To the world's God I leave the rest."

Fain had I spoke once more, but he

Had vanished on the floods away ; Nought but the moonlight could I see,

That gleamed upon the glittering spray.

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