I
In
a solitude of the sea
Deep
from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.
II
Steel
chambers, late the pyres
Of
her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.
III
Over
the mirrors meant
To
glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls — grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.
IV
Jewels
in joy designed
To
ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.
V
Dim
moon-eyed fishes near
Gaze
at the gilded gear
And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" ...
VI
Well:
while was fashioning
This
creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything
VII
Prepared
a sinister mate
For
her — so gaily great —
A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.
VIII
And
as the smart ship grew
In
stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.
IX
Alien
they seemed to be;
No
mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history,
X
Or
sign that they were bent
By
paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one august event,
XI
Till
the Spinner of the Years
Said
"Now!" And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.