SEA WITH MOON

A nearly starless sky
Provides the full moon filled
With itself depths of darkness
In which the glistening ray
May ride on a sea-road,
Half-steel, half-pearl, grey-white
Ocean where tiny boats
Are bobbing, almost black
Against water that is
A clear band of bright moon
Pulled forth and melted down
Beneath the one that rounds
Itself out as a living
Face, and presides above,
And governs us according
To tranquil habits and
As if finding itself
Nearby, concedes to us
An attention of that light
Always sweet, out of great
Familiarity
With its planet of old.