Tears
Tears! tears! tears!
In the night, in solitude, tears; On the white shore dripping, dripping, sucked in by the sand; Tears—not a star shining—all dark and desolate; Moist tears from the eyes of a muffled head:
—O who is that ghost?—that form in the dark, with tears?
What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouched there on the sand?
Streaming tears—sobbing tears—throes, choked with wild cries; O storm, embodied, rising, careering, with swift steps along the beach; O wild and dismal night-storm, with wind! O belching and desperate!
O shade, so sedate and decorous by day, with calm countenance and regulated pace; But away, at night, as you fly, none looking—O then the unloosened ocean Of tears! tears! tears!