| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893. | | | | A Book of Sonnets | | The Tides |
| | | I SAW the long line of the vacant shore, | |
| The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand, | |
| And the brown rocks left bare on every hand, | |
| As if the ebbing tide would flow no more. | |
| Then heard I, more distinctly than before, | 5 |
| The ocean breathe and its great breast expand, | |
| And hurrying came on the defenceless land | |
| The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar. | |
| All thought and feeling and desire, I said, | |
| Love, laughter, and the exultant joy of song | 10 |
| Have ebbed from me forever! Suddenly o’er me | |
| They swept again from their deep ocean bed, | |
| And in a tumult of delight, and strong | |
| As youth, and beautiful as youth, upbore me. | | | | |
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