 | [The storm, in] The token and Atlantic souvenir. A Christmas and New Year's present |  |
15
THE STORM.
Our ship had traversed many a league
Of the unfathomed sea,
And on her homeward way had swept
With steady flight and free;
But now a hush was brooding
O'er the waters and the land,
And sluggishly she lay becalmed,
Close off our native strand.
Of the unfathomed sea,
And on her homeward way had swept
With steady flight and free;
But now a hush was brooding
O'er the waters and the land,
And sluggishly she lay becalmed,
Close off our native strand.
She swung upon the smooth paved sea,
With canvas all unfurled;
While not a fluttering breath of air,
Her twining pennant curled.
Her snow-white sails flapped wearily
Against the creaking mast,
And stretched their folds in vain to catch
The whispering of the blast.
With canvas all unfurled;
While not a fluttering breath of air,
Her twining pennant curled.
Her snow-white sails flapped wearily
Against the creaking mast,
And stretched their folds in vain to catch
The whispering of the blast.
Three days and nights a hopeless calm,
Thus spread about our way,
And silent as a slumbering child,
The glassy billows lay.
Another morn—the wind rose up
From its foreboding sleep,
And hurled in wrath the giant waves,
Along the foaming deep.
Thus spread about our way,
And silent as a slumbering child,
The glassy billows lay.
Another morn—the wind rose up
From its foreboding sleep,
And hurled in wrath the giant waves,
Along the foaming deep.
16
The black and massy clouds bent down,
And darkened all the air,
Save where the severed edges caught
The lightning's blazing glare:
In vain we strove with eager haste,
To reef the swelling sail;
Our mainmast trembled like a reed,
Before the sudden gale.
And darkened all the air,
Save where the severed edges caught
The lightning's blazing glare:
In vain we strove with eager haste,
To reef the swelling sail;
Our mainmast trembled like a reed,
Before the sudden gale.
The ship drove on as if the storm
Itself had grasped the helm;
The surging waves bent o'er the deck,
They strove to overwhelm;
And on like chaff before the wind,
Our gallant vessel bore—
Until our straining eyes beheld
The dark cliffs of the shore.
Itself had grasped the helm;
The surging waves bent o'er the deck,
They strove to overwhelm;
And on like chaff before the wind,
Our gallant vessel bore—
Until our straining eyes beheld
The dark cliffs of the shore.
She struck—and we—we perished not
Upon the desert sand;
For there were manly hearts to aid,
Beside that wave-beat strand.
But ere the cloud pavilioned sun
Had sunk beneath the wave,
Our bark, with all her bravery on,
Had found an ocean grave.
Upon the desert sand;
For there were manly hearts to aid,
Beside that wave-beat strand.
But ere the cloud pavilioned sun
Had sunk beneath the wave,
Our bark, with all her bravery on,
Had found an ocean grave.
E. S.
| [The storm, in] The token and Atlantic souvenir. A Christmas and New Year's present | |