Hymn to an Adonis, Ocean Most High

Things burning slowly by the rudder
Hum distinctly through the streaming
Beats, transcendent sea; rapid silence
Descends softly and lowly as webs of gauze
Through poplar trees; time
And the sieves of twilight
Mix with the powders of midnight dew
For tantalizing dreams.

A witch will brew the potion, stirring
Bubbling bulks of meat with fish's eyes,
And whisper coarsing lies
Under her bearded breath.

Seth, the muscular undulations and the cool
Administrations of the balm, a rising hulk
Of tender arms and all the mounting flowers
Boulder storms to whip my sail, toile the rails,
Smash the knell of the blue machine
To a lichen cove:

Smooth your lips, and soft the down
Of breezes, while like a quivering toy
The keel moves where it pleases
Fertile brows to arch with joy --

Climb triumphing towers through the wisp-light dawn
With the flight of birds, whose gold tails sip
Of ruddy marigolds, near glittering crystals
Sold by the hanging chimes with all the bawds
Of maritimes: for the ocean is my lover's breath
Of hurricanes and tattered cargo; all I ask
Is come ashore before the death of this embargo.