What, though the sea-shell cheats the ear...

What though the sea-shell cheats the ear . . . . . . And from my blood, free-coursing near, Unspheres the far and murmurous phantom Of breaking seas that I faintly hear?

Of life beyond there come to me Hints truer than shell's phantom sea,— I brood all space, the past, the present, And timeless realms of eternity!

The rose-lipt thing has lost its pearl,— Death's chamber is its polished whorl; I am a life, and feel of Being No phantom touch, but the vital swirl.