y.
Perhaps they'll tell me what my heart desires
To know, and Cupid's dart inspires.

[Kelpies come up from the sea and sing in chorus:]

Join with us, dance with us, prance with us
Over the sea.
Roam with us, flee with us, be with us
Where we may be

Sing with us, walk with us, talk with us
Carelessly gay.
Come with us, play with us, stray with us
Where we may stray.

Paolo--
Pray, kelpies, tell me what you find of joy,
In what of work or play your hours employ.

Kelpies' Chorus--
You can sing of the lakes and mountains
And the freedom of open plains;
But for spaces wide and untrammelled
The ocean alone remains.

In the cradle of ocean surges
We rock to heart's content.
We've played on countless beaches
And roam the sea's extent.

1st Kelpie--
The sights that we view on our travels
Are marvels that fill with delight;
But chief is the phosphorescence
Of the foaming seas, at night.

Paolo--
I wish you would tell of those flashes
That are such a wonderful sight.

Phosphorescence

1st Kelpie--
Sparkling and darkling, dust of the milky way,
Shifting and drifting, firefly legions at play;
Fading and glowing, lights of a starry maze,
Coming and going, drift of a luminous haze.

Tangling and spangling the waves with a wealth of light,
Spraying and straying silently through the night;
Dusting and flashing a light in our yeasty wake,
Glowing and splashing wherever the waves we break.

Lacing and tracing the path of the evening breeze,
Blazing and raising a light on the breaking seas;
Ebbing and flowing, an ocean of liquid light,
Finding and showing the reefs in the blackest night.

Paolo--
There's much in what you say appeals to me;
What else may you have learned along the margin of the sea?

1st Kelpie--
There is a cove, secret from passing eyes,
Beautiful as a dream of Paradise;
Where, sheltered from the stormy waves that stray
Unfettered down the sea's wide open way,
The seaman oftentimes doth moor his barque
In shaded bays, peaceful by day or dark.
For there the salty tide finds calm repose,
Sheltered from every boisterous wind that blows;
And ripples, like faint shadows on a glass,
Play lightly where the fitful breezes pass.
Elsewhere the mirrored shores inverted stand,
Trees foot to foot, hand clasping hand;
And all the flitting clouds their faces see,
Till sea and sky