Page:Felicia Hemans in The Winter's Wreath 1830.pdf/15

"Here to the quivering mast
    "Despair hath wildly clung,
"The shriek upon the wind hath past,
    "The midnight sky hath rung.

"And the youthful and the brave
    "With their beauty and renown,
"To the hollow chambers of the wave
    "In darkness have gone down.

"They are vanished from this place—
    "Let their homes and hearths make moan!
"But the rolling waters keep no trace
    "Of pang or conflict gone."

—Alas! thou haughty Deep!
    The strong, the sounding-far!
My heart before thee dies—I weep
    To think on what we are!

To think that so we pass,
    High hope, and thought, and mind,
Even as the breath-stain from the glass,
    Leaving no sign behind!

Saw'st thou nought else, thou Main?
    Thou and the midnight sky?
Nought, save the struggle brief and vain,
    The parting agony!