 | Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard . |  |
95
THE STORMY PETREL
Above the rough sea's climbing crest
The sunbeams flashed afar,
And smote the Phaeton's silver breast,
That sparkled like a star.
The sunbeams flashed afar,
And smote the Phaeton's silver breast,
That sparkled like a star.
A wail was in the rising gale,
A wail both long and low;
The sailors flew to shorten sail,
The landsmen crept below.
A wail both long and low;
The sailors flew to shorten sail,
The landsmen crept below.
We faced the fury of the blast;
A head-sea swept the deck—
A great wave leaped upon the mast,
And threatened total wreck.
A head-sea swept the deck—
A great wave leaped upon the mast,
And threatened total wreck.
No man but with the spray was blind—
No galley fires would burn—
No sound but of the awful wind
That shrieked from stem to stern.
No galley fires would burn—
No sound but of the awful wind
That shrieked from stem to stern.
96
Yet with a quick and fearful glance
That now my bosom thrills,
I saw the stormy petrel dance
Among the watery hills.
That now my bosom thrills,
I saw the stormy petrel dance
Among the watery hills.
And where the hissing bubbles sprawled
With weird and impish form,
The dancing petrel clucked and called
The devils of the storm.
With weird and impish form,
The dancing petrel clucked and called
The devils of the storm.
| Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard . | |