A book of Bristol sonnets | ||
89
ON THE DRAWBRIDGE
Deep in the heart's loud humming laboratoriesIs set a silence chamber all apart;
Men's tears at sudden hush will ever start!
Old City, hoarse with manufacture's cries,
Whose noise acclaims the busy enterprise,
Lo! at the clamorous centre of thy heart,
The solemn waters hush the wrangling mart,
And quiet ships unlade their argosies!
The prisoned waves, that quite forget to beat,
Stir to the ocean's pulses twice a day;
Then, like a dream, the silent-footed fleet
Move to their perfect rest beside the quay;
And Bristol, through thy fevered nerves is sent
A touch of peace, a sense of calm content.
A book of Bristol sonnets | ||