THE world below the brine;
 Forests at the bottom of the sea--the branches and leaves,
 Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds--the thick
 tangle, the openings, and the pink turf,
 Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold--the
 play of light through the water,
 Dumb swimmers there among the rocks--coral, gluten, grass, rushes--
 and the aliment of the swimmers,
 Sluggish existences grazing there, suspended, or slowly crawling
 close to the bottom,
 The sperm-whale at the surface, blowing air and spray, or disporting
 with his flukes,
 The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard,
 and the sting-ray;
 Passions there--wars, pursuits, tribes--sight in those ocean-depths--
 breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do;
 The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed
 by beings like us, who walk this sphere; 10
 The change onward from ours, to that of beings who walk other
 spheres.