When beauty grows too great to bear
How shall I ease me of its ache,
For beauty more than bitterness
Makes the heart break.
Now while I watch the dreaming sea
With isles like flowers against her breast,
Only one voice in all the world
Could give me rest.
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on August 15, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.
