Sonnet
Reading edition
Free have I wandered over all earth’s lands Where paths are windy roads; on stately ships I sought my dreams where the Pacific dips And swells and breaks its heart out on the sands. I found a love of small boats and the sky With low swung stars, the friendly tropic rain And ebbing tides in haste to flood again, A love of Beauty that may not pass by. I want not joys of many towered halls, Of proud cathedrals or the seats of kings, But only stillness to enshadow me In places where the world to silence falls Wondering at the loveliness of things Like sun and starshine on the hills and sea. J. CROSBY BROWN, JR.