Page:The Bliss of a Moment.djvu/18

 AN AUTUMN NIGHT ON THE PACIFIC

The waves by day got their hues from the sky, The dark night makes the sky dance to the waves.

Lo, there, the lamp at the top of the mast,—

How frantic it leaps to rival the stars!

Reddish, bright, or faint do the planets gleam,

They travel lonesome, coupled, or in groups.

Up in the dome's ceiling gems countless burn,

Down, the dark carpet is ruffled by the wind.

Darkness has reduced the watery sheet,

Reduced the volume of the ocean's roof;

Too quick are left the new horizons behind,

And fresh clouds on fresh arches greet the eyes.

The stars are rising and setting at will,

The constellations sojourn on their rounds,

But peaceless and full of turbulence heaves

The Pacific's breast in an autumn night.

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