There is a void mysterious space
Upon the full moon's face
They call Serenity's dead sea;
Changeless and blank it seems to be
Amidst continuous change elsewhere,
Untouched by tides or waves of air,
Volcanic craters yawning round.

What breathless monsters harbour there,
If any life at all may dare,
Their iron lungs in silence bound,
Silence for ever and profound!

The little boy with thinking eyes,
Steals inquiringly to me:—
Tell you more of that moon-sea
I pointed out in last night's skies?
But more no man can ever know,
We must not think of it at all,—
For if by sympathy I go
Too near that breathless sea, dear elf,
'Tis very likely I shall fall
Into breathlessness myself.