She lay and laughed on a lazy billow,
                Far away on the deep,
Who had gathered the froth for my lady’s pillow—
                Gathered a sparkling heap;
And the ocean’s cry was the lullaby
                That cradled my love to sleep.

Far away on the blue Pacific
                There doth my lady roam,
That is oft-times gay, but as oft terrific:
                Her jewels are beads of foam:
In a coral cave, where a blue-green wave
                Keeps guard, is my lady’s home.

She claps her hands, and her henchman hurries
                West of the sunset sheen:
’Tis he who comes when a mist-wrack scurries,
                Skirting the deep ravine;
And my heart is stirred by the loving word
                He carries me from my queen.

A drop distilled from a lotos flower—
                That is the magic key
To unlock the cage, and my soul has power
                To gather itself and flee,
At my love’s behest, where she waits her guest
                In a palace beneath the sea.

Joy is ours that is almost anguish:
                Pain that is almost sweet:
We kiss; and the ocean creatures languish
                Jealously at our feet;
The sight grows dim, and the senses swim
                When I and my lady greet.

There to dream, while the soul is swooning
                Under a woven spell—
Hushed to sleep by her tender crooning
                Learnt from the ocean swell—
There to rest on her jewelled breast,
                To love and be loved as well!