I've a kiss from a warmer lover
 Than maiden earth can be:
She blew it up to the skies above her,
 And now it has come to me;
From the far-away it has come today
 With a breath of the old salt sea.



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!