 | Sonnets by the Rev. Charles Strong |  |
XV.
Roused by the billow's melancholy dirge,
I woke, as Night her sable banner furled;
What time pale mists, in forms fantastic curled,
Like spectral shapes, come flitting o'er the surge:
I woke, as Night her sable banner furled;
What time pale mists, in forms fantastic curled,
Like spectral shapes, come flitting o'er the surge:
Then, looking eastward, on the ocean's verge
From the near sun I saw red flashes hurled;
As rolls the pageant from the nether world,
And from the waves the golden wheels emerge.
From the near sun I saw red flashes hurled;
As rolls the pageant from the nether world,
And from the waves the golden wheels emerge.
Never of old did more portentous light
Suspend the seaman's oar, when, like a pyre,
Lemnos appeared at evening, kindling bright;
Suspend the seaman's oar, when, like a pyre,
Lemnos appeared at evening, kindling bright;
Rather—when, tasked by Jove in sudden ire,
The God was labouring with his crew all night,
On glowing anvils shaping forked fire.
The God was labouring with his crew all night,
On glowing anvils shaping forked fire.
| Sonnets by the Rev. Charles Strong | |