Quote#Nature
The hollow sea-shell, which for years hath stood
Quote byEugene Lee-Hamilton · 1845–1907
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Sonnet. Sea-shell Murmurs, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Gather a shell from the strewn beach / And listen at its lips: they sigh / The same desire and mystery, / The echo of the whole sea's speech", Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Sea Hints; "I send thee a shell.
English (original)
The hollow sea-shell, which for years hath stood On dusty shelves, when held against the ear Proclaims its stormy parent, and we hear The faint, far murmur of the breaking flood. We hear the sea. The Sea? It is the blood In our own veins, impetuous and near.
— Eugene Lee-Hamilton
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