I06 
ON WAIKIKI BEACH 
 
The lion-shapen headland guards the shore ; 
The ocean, the bull-throated, evermore 
Roars ; the vast wheel of heaven turns above, 
Its rim of pain, its jewelled heart of love ; 
Sun-waved, the eagle wing 
Of the air of feathered spring 
Royally sweeps and on the musical merge 
Watches alone the man. 
O silvern shape and span 
Of moonlight, reaching over the grey, large 
Breast of the surf-bound strand, 
Life of the earth, God’s child, Man’s bride, the light of the 
sweet land ! 
 
Are emeralds ever a spark of this clear green, 
Or sapphires hints of this diviner blue, 
Or rubies shadows of this rosy hue, 
Or light itself elsewhere so clear and clean ? 
For all the sparkling dews of heaven fallen far 
Crystalline, fixed, forgotten (as a star 
Forgets its nebulous virginity) 
Are set in all the sky and earth and sea. 
Shining with solar fire, 
The single-eyed desire 
Of scent and sound and sight and sense perfuses 
The still and lambent light 
Of the essential night ; 
And all the heart of me is fain, and muses, 
As if for ever doomed to dream 
Or pass in peace Lethean adown the grey Lethean stream.