Poems on Various Subjects :: :: University of Virginia Library

As on the well-fram'd Vessel's side
Impetuous pours the stormy tide,
Aloud the furious whirlwinds sound,
And foaming surges break around,
Danaë, while tears her cheek bedew,
Her Arm around her Infant threw,

293

And, ‘ah!’ she cried, ‘what weight of woe
‘This wretched breast is doom'd to know,
‘Yet calm my helpless babe you lie,
‘And balmy slumber seals your eye,
‘Hush'd in this drear abode you sleep
‘Amid the horrors of the deep,
‘Now by the moon reveal'd to sight,
‘Now wrapp'd in shades of gloomy night,
‘Nor heed the howling waves that spread
‘Tremendous o'er your shelter'd head.
‘In your warm robe you lie reclin'd
‘Regardless of the raging wind.
‘If all these fears to you were fear
‘My words would pierce your infant ear;
‘But still may Sleep's oblivious hand
‘O'er you extend it's influence bland,

294

‘And O! may Slumber's placid reign
‘Lull the rude tempest of the main,
‘Bid the dread scene of terror cease,
‘And give my tortur'd bosom peace.’

The word in the original is Λαρναξ, a Coffer, Chest, or Case. I have rendered it by the general term Vessel, as it must necessarily have been made for the purpose to which it was applied. Mr. Bryant supposes it to allude to the Ark of Noah. See Analys. Vol. II. p. 66. Mr. B. Greene entertains some doubt of the antiquity of the Poem from the word Λαρναξ, but it occurs twice in the Iliad.