1. I wondered at the sea swelling then contracting,
Its chest forever rising and falling.

2. When its paths were turbulent and convulsed,
It seemed shivering skin rippling.

3. You see it if gentle breezes blow,
Shy away wandering and fretting.

4. Wave after wave it sends in succession
Swelling, descending, undulating, then rising.

5. Flowing, now surging, now twisting,
Keeping an even course or crossing.

6. Its trails now soiling, now pulling
Over the sands as they plunge and race.

7. You see it recoiling, backward treading,
The lion's claws from smooth sands slipping.

8. Diverse passions never gained a purpose,
Until for them in others a purpose was found.

9. Now shrinking, now expanding, now vibrating
Among hollows or like paste coagulating.

10. Beware the sea, be not fooled by its calm;
Though it remains still, in it pulses throb.

11. It seethes and foams wildly turbulent,
Snarling and swelling and subsiding again.

12. You see the mountains when its tankers raged
Towering, flowing, plunging, and crumbling.

13. The horizon was masked when spray arose
And it kept thundering, trembling and vibrating.

14. Behind clouds' veils the sun has an eye
Peering and blinking at the tumult.

15. The wind appeals when it loses its courses;
Lightning guides its steps flashing by.

16. The earth apprehensive of its threat
In lingering dread, unmatched in dread.

17. Flowing into the sky with edges it expands
Time cannot diminish nor lessen its spread.

18. Have you seen a preserve like the sea so vast?
Unviolated, a kingdom time does not erode.

19. Without it no clouds would have formed nor rain poured,
So from it comes all that the heavens hold.

20. If you realized, the earth and sky together
From it seek and constantly borrow.

21. No human hand alters its beauty,
Nor any strength makes its pillars abide.

22. He whose soul does not forbid tyranny,
No fortress nor height can protect his pride.