We, that are the very waters of change,
Wearied, seek the unchanging:
We want a rock under our feet.

A rock of God, a rock of institutions,
A rock of indissoluble marriage:
The absolute.

And it does not matter if the rock has a nest of snakes upon it,
And is slimy and slippery, betraying our feet …
There will we stand, there will we suffer: our Rock!

But I—I will to my own, to the kin of my spirit:
I, the waters of change, will give myself to Life, that sea in flux,
To the vast variety, to the perilous open, to the stinging salt:
Strength must one have to swim: and I shall grow strong with the sea.