University of Virginia Library

THE SEA-WATCHER.

I

The crags lay dark in strange eclipse:
From waves late flushed the glow was gone:
The topsails of the far-off ships
Alone in lessening radiance shone:
Against a stranded boat a maid
Stood leaning gunwale to her breast,
As though its pain that pressure stayed:
Her large eyes rested on the west.

II

‘Beyond the sea! beyond the sea!
The weeks, the months, the years go by!
Ah! when will some one say of me
“Beyond the sky! beyond the sky!”
And yet I would not have thee here
To look upon thy country's shame:
For me the tear: for me the bier:
For thee fair field, and honest fame.