Within me. All is over! I exclaim'd; Yet not in me, my friend, hath time produced Have shown what thou hast suffer'd. We have yet One hope... I pray'd them to proceed a day, .. But one day more; . . this little have I gain'd, And here will wait the issue; in yon bark I am not needed, One only day! they are masters there. The gale blew strong, the bark Sped through the waters; but the silent hours, Who make no pause, went by; and center'd still, We saw the dreary vacancy of heaven Close round our narrow view, when that brief term, They shorten'd sail, and call'd with coward prayer Or the more wayward will of such as these, Or we shall soon eternally repose From life's long voyage. As he spake, I saw The clouds hang thick and heavy o'er the deep, 'Tis pleasant, by the cheerful hearth, to hear Of tempests and the dangers of the deep, And pause at times, and feel that we are safe; Then listen to the perilous tale again, And with an eager and suspended soul, Woo terror to delight us. . . . But to hear The roaring of the raging elements, .. To know all human skill, all human strength, Avail not, to look round, and only see The mountain wave incumbent with its weight Of bursting waters o'er the reeling bark, . . . O God, this is indeed a dreadful thing! And he who hath endured the horror once Of such an hour, doth never hear the storm Howl round his home, but he remembers it, And thinks upon the suffering mariner. : Onward we drove with unabating force The tempest raged; night added to the storm New horrors, and the morn arose o'erspread With heavier clouds. The weary mariners Call'd on Saint Cyric's aid; and I too placed Sea, Air, and Heaven? Or were we perishing Labour'd in these mad workings? Did the Waters Three dreadful nights and days we drove along ; The fourth, the welcome rain came rattling down, The wind had fallen, and through the broken cloud Appeared the bright dilating blue of heaven. Embolden'd now, I call'd the mariners: .. Vain were it should we bend a homeward course, Driven by the storm so far: they saw our barks, For service of that long and perilous way Disabled, and our food belike to fail. His long white pinions by the sunbeam edged Yet three days more, and hope more eager now, Sure of the signs of land, . . weed-shoals, and birds Who flock'd the main, and gentle airs which breathed, Or seemed to breathe, fresh fragrance from the shore. On the last evening, a long shadowy line Skirted the sea ; . . how fast the night closed in! I stood upon the deck, and watch'd till dawn. But who can tell what feelings fill'd my heart, When like a cloud the distant land arose Grey from the ocean, when we left the ship, V. LINCOYA. MADOC had paused awhile; but every eye Of Ocean, prostrate on my face I fell, Kiss'd the dear earth, and pray'd with thankful tears. The breeze of land, while fears and dangers past To the shore ask What men were they? Of dark-brown colour, tinged Nor busy thought had made a furrow there; |