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Sonnets Round the Coast

by H. D. Rawnsley
Rawnsley, H. D. (1851-1920)
  
[dedication]

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[section]
expand sectionI. 
BOOK I. SONNETS OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT AND SOUTH COAST.
expand sectionII. 
BOOK II. SONNETS OF THE CORNISH COASTS.
expand sectionIII. 
BOOK III. SONNETS OF THE BRISTOL CHANNEL.
expand sectionIV. 
BOOK IV. SONNETS OF THE WELSH COAST.
expand sectionV. 
BOOK V. SONNETS OF THE LANCASHIRE AND CUMBERLAND COASTS.
expand sectionVI. 
BOOK VI. SONNETS OF THE NORTH-EAST COAST.
collapse sectionVII. 
BOOK VII.
expand sectionI. 
Part I SONNETS OF THE YORKSHIRE COAST—SALTBURN.
expand sectionII. 
Part II. SONNETS OF THE YORKSHIRE COAST-RUNSWICK BAY.
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Part III. SONNETS OF THE YORKSHIRE COAST—WHITBY.
 I. 
I. THE SORROW OF THE SEA.
 II. 
II. WHITBY.
 III. 
III. SAINT HILDA.
 IV. 
IV. BY THE ESK AT WHITBY.
 V. 
V. A CONTRAST: WHITBY.
 VI. 
VI. A MEMORY OF CAEDMON, WHITBY.
 VII. 
VII. SUNRISE AT WHITBY.
 VIII. 
VIII. A SUNSET AT WHITBY.
 IX. 
IX. WHITBY ABBEY.
 X. 
X. WHITBY ABBEY.
 XI. 
XI. AFTER THE HERRINGS, WHITBY.
 XII. 
XII. HERRINGS FINE!
 XIII. 
XIII. IN THE UPPER HARBOUR, WHITBY.
 XIV. 
XIV. THE BELL BUOY AT THE HARBOUR MOUTH, WHITBY.
 XV. 
XV. ON THE HARBOUR PIER, WHITBY.
 XVI. 
XVI. LIGHTS ON WHITBY CHURCH STAIRS.
 XVII. 
XVII. SAINT HILDA'S LIGHTS.
 XVIII. 
XVIII. SUNSET LIGHTS ON THE WINDOWS OF SAINT MARY'S CHURCH, WHITBY.
 XIX. 
XIX. THE SIX O'CLOCK BELL, WHITBY.
 XX. 
XX. THE JET WORKER.
 XXI. 
XXI. THE WHITBY BELLS.
 XXII. 
XXII. SERVICE IN THE OLD PARISH CHURCH, WHITBY.
 XXIII. 
XXIII. DROWNED BY THE UPSETTING OF THE LIFE-BOAT, OCTOBER 6, 1841.
 XXIV. 
XXIV. FAREWELL TO WHITBY.
 XXV. 
XXV. THE PENNY HEDGE.
 XXVI. 
XXVI. THE BEGGAR'S BRIDGE, GLAISDALE.
 XXVII. 
XXVII. ON A MOORLAND RAILWAY.
 XXVIII. 
XXVIII. PICKERING MOOR,
 XXIX. 
XXIX. LILLA CROSS.
 XXX. 
XXX. GOATHLAND.
 XXXI. 
XXXI. IN GLAISDALE WOOD.
expand sectionIV. 
Part iv. SONNETS OF THE YORKSHIRE COAST—SCARBOROUGH.
expand sectionVIII. 
BOOK VIII. SONNETS OF THE LINCOLNSHIRE COAST.

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176

XIV. THE BELL BUOY AT THE HARBOUR MOUTH, WHITBY.

As if the sea were giving up her dead,
And corse by corse to burial were borne,
I heard the buoy-bell out of darkness mourn,
And bitter were the doleful words it said:
It told of waves that closed above the head
Of men unshrieved, uncoffined, husbands torn
From wives, and children fatherless, forlorn;
Of faces gazing seaward pale with dread.
But still, with melancholy sway and swing
The bell gave forth its wailing funeral note,
And the night thickened, and the moon went down,
And the wind rose. Few boats had reached the town
But for the warning of that iron throat.
Henceforth, unquestioned, let the death-bell ring.
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