The Idea of Order at Key West

She sang beyond the genius of the sea. The water never formed to mind Of man; that was in the mind Of a woman singing. And the song, Though she sang it in the land, was A song of the sea, perhaps, or, If we cannot know or imagine, A thought in love with the sea And therefore a thought of ourselves, Another woman, singing.

And here were all the oceans, And here the orchard blooms along the shore, Brick cool and red. In shadows garden-bridges, There were shadows of these berries, The daylight glared upon with gilded rays And sombre sea And upon terrace And pearl wanderings.

Echo, echo; The sea is a voice with rhythm, With wash and spray and song That she sang with her mind. Her mind a mind of water

Trembling with song and shadow, With detail of wave, upon wave, A worldly tune—indeed an order, As she sang on as a sea-goer Out of the blue and into the gold.

• Wallace Stevens