Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By William RoscoeThayer

1344 Man in Nature

CLIMBING up the hillside beneath the summer stars

I listen to the murmur of the drowsy ebbing sea;

The newly-risen moon has loosed her silver zone

On the undulating waters where the ships are sailing free.

O moon, and O stars, and O drowsy summer sea.

Drawing thy tide from the city up the bay,

I know how you will look and what your bounds must be,

When we and our sons have forever passed away.

You shall not change, but a nobler race of men

Shall walk beneath the stars and wander by the shore;

I cannot guess their glory, but I think the sky and sea

Will bring to them more gladness than they brought to us of yore.