SHIPWRECK
Reading edition
We who by shipwreck only find the shores Of divine wisdom can but kneel at first, Can but exult to feel beneath our feet, That long stretched vainly down the yielding deeps, The shock and sustenance of solid earth: Inland afar we see what temples gleam Through immemorial stems of sacred groves, And we conjecture shining shapes therein; Yet for a space 'tis good to wonder here Among the shells and seaweed of the beach.