oft music possesses me like the seas!

to my planet pale,

'neath a ceiling of mist, in the lofty breeze,

i set my sail.

with inflated lungs and expanded chest,

like to a sail,

on the backs of the heaped-up billows i rest—

which the shadows veil—

i feel all the anguish within me arise

of a ship in distress;

the tempest, the rain, 'neath the lowering skies,

my body caress;

at times, the calm pool or the mirror clear

of my despair!