Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The Sea Limits

Consider the sea's listless chime;
Time's self it is, made audible -
The murmur of the earth's own shell.
Secret continuance sublime
Is the sea's end: our sight may pass
No furlong further. Since time was,
This sound hath told the lapse of time.

No quiet, which is death's -it hath
The mournfulness of ancient life,
Enduring always at dull strife.
As the world's heart of rest and wrath,
Its painful pulse is in the sands.
Last utterly, the whole sky stands
Grey and not known, along its path. 

1. The House of Life. Sonnet 44. Cloud and Wind
2. The House of Life. Sonnet 99. Newborn Death - 1
3. The House of Life. Sonnet 70. The Hill Summit
4. The House of Life. Sonnet 14. Youth's Spring-Tribute
5. The House of Life. Sonnet 45. Secret Parting

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