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NEREIA
And sank in it and melted. And the sea
And sky and air were silent, for the dawn
Was not far off; all things lay still and watch’d.
Above the sea, rose, like some giant ghost,
Because the pallid air had swathed it round,
The great pile of the palace; ghostly, too,
Show’d the broad parapet, and the marble steps
That lead from it into the sea beneath;
But, in the day, they all are dazzling white,
Steps, palace, parapet, all a burning white
Beneath the full blue sky.
The water swung
With lazy plash over the sheeny steps,
Or lifted little lips that curl’d and smiled,
Too listless now for laughter, to the verge
Of the unmoved marble, then sank back to rest;
Laugh’d not, nor sobb’d, but breathed and slept
and dream’d.
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