 | The Outcast, and other poems |  |
195
SONGS OF NATURE.
I hear the ocean bursting on the shore—
What melancholy music in that roar!
What wailing voices swell upon the breeze,
What phantoms come and whisper of the seas!
Wild tales they tell of misty ages flown,
Of depths unfathomed, and of shores unknown;
Of ever toiling tides, where tempests frown,
Of trackless deeps, where God alone looks down.
And these, the legends of the speeding wave,
Come to the heart like music from the grave.
Sad is their tone, and answering deep to deep,
The soul gives back an echo to its sweep!
What melancholy music in that roar!
What wailing voices swell upon the breeze,
What phantoms come and whisper of the seas!
Wild tales they tell of misty ages flown,
Of depths unfathomed, and of shores unknown;
Of ever toiling tides, where tempests frown,
Of trackless deeps, where God alone looks down.
And these, the legends of the speeding wave,
Come to the heart like music from the grave.
Sad is their tone, and answering deep to deep,
The soul gives back an echo to its sweep!
The forest tosses in the autumn gale,
The leaves are scattered and they shroud the vale.
Voices are on the breeze—and in its breath
Spirits are singing, but they sing of death.
The leaves are scattered and they shroud the vale.
Voices are on the breeze—and in its breath
Spirits are singing, but they sing of death.
And who hath tuned these harps of nature? who
Makes the deep bosom feel their music true?
Oh, God! we hear the anthem of the sea
And land—and listen, for they speak of Thee!
They speak of Thee, and man's predestined doom,
Yet lift the shroud that shadows o'er the tomb:
They sadden, but they soothe the troubled soul,
And strike hope's anchor strong, though billows roll.
196
Oh, God! we hear the anthem of the sea
And land—and listen, for they speak of Thee!
They speak of Thee, and man's predestined doom,
Yet lift the shroud that shadows o'er the tomb:
They sadden, but they soothe the troubled soul,
And strike hope's anchor strong, though billows roll.
| The Outcast, and other poems | |