Oft Music possesses me like the seas!
                To my planet pale,
'Neath a ceiling of mist, in the lofty breeze,
                I set my sail.

With inflated lungs and expanded chest,
                Like to a sail,
On the backs of the heaped-up billows I rest—
                Which the shadows veil—

I feel all the anguish within me arise
                Of a ship in distress;
The tempest, the rain, 'neath the lowering skies,

                My body caress;
At times, the calm pool or the mirror clear
                Of my despair!