She is an ocean and a desert a white candle and a deep sapphire; the great tempest sent by you to test my heart's voyage.
It is she whom I taste upon my lips not the foam of a raging sea. She who stung my eyes to tears not the burning sands. Her flame that lights my path not the flickering lamp. She it was who purchased my freedom not the great jewel of Tabriz.
And it was she who opened my soul. No great wind nor wave, that set my ship on a course to your unfound shores.
See "the Tale of the Mariner", J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Book of Lost Tales I".