THE WATER SPIRIT.
Beneath the wave tossed waters,
Upon the ocean bed;
There dwelt a water spirit,
To sea-king she was wed.
Years passed in happy wedlock,
And pledges to them came
Of love beneath the ocean;
For love is e’er the same.
They lived in sweet communion
Among their sea-weed flowers.
’Twas ever peace and gladness
Within their love-lit bowers.
One little spirit wandering
Away from childhood’s home—
Came into unknown waters,—
Beneath a coral dome,—
She heard a spirit teaching
A doctrine, new and strange;
She listened to his preaching,
And thought took wider range.
He told of other peoples
Who lived above the sea.
Of birds with brilliant plumage,
Who in the air were free.
To her this was awakening
From out a long, long sleep.
The soul was stirred within her,
To flowers of thought most deep.
Now to her home returning—
Dissension there arose;
Her former friends so loving,
Were now her bitter foes.
They cried to her “O heretic!”
You are forever lost,
Unless you pray to Neptune,
And not by doubts be tossed.
There is no God but Neptune,
There is no world but ours,
There are no stars, nor planets,
There are but sea-weed flowers.
And tilled with consternation
At everything she said—
They even feared pollution,
And from her they all fled.
Now e’en above the ocean
Some bigot there may be,
Who only prays to Neptune,
Who dwells beneath the sea.
He sees no beauty ever,
Except in his own flowers.
And if from him you differ,
Contumely on you showers.