Heaven help us! 't was a thing beyond Description wretched; such a wherry Perhaps ne'er ventured on a pond,
For, ploughing in the salt-sea field,
It would have made the boldest shudder; Untarred, uncompassed, and unkeeled
From neighboring woods he interlaced His sorry skiff with wattled willows; And thus equipped he would have passed The foaming billows
But Frenchmen caught him on the beach, His little Argo sorely jeering; rill tidings of him chanced to reach
Napoleon's hearing.
With folded arms Napoleon stood,
Serene alike in peace and danger;
And, in his wonted attitude,
Addressed the stranger :
Rash man, that wouldst yon channel pass On twigs and staves so rudely fashioned Thy heart with some sweet British lass Must be impassioned.”
"I have no sweetheart," said the lad;
"But-absent long from one another¬
Great was the longing that I had
To see my mother."
"And so thou shalt," Napoleon said,
"Ye've both my favor fairly won;
A noble mother must have bred
So brave a son."
One perfect dawn how well I recollect,
When the whole East was flecked
With flashing streaks and shafts of amethyst,
While a light crimson mist
Went up before the mountain luminary,
And all the strips of cloud began to vary
Their hues, and all the zenith seemed to open,
As if to show a cope beyond the cope!
How reverently calm the ocean lay
At the bright birth of that celestial day!
How every little vapor, robed in state,
Would melt and dissipate
Before the augmenting ray,
Till the victorious orb rose unattended,
And every billow was his mirror splendid!
EPES SARGENT.
EASE, rude Boreas, blustering railer! List, ye landsman all, to me; Messmates, hear a brother sailor Sing the dangers of the sea;
From bounding billows, first in motion, When the distant whirlwinds rise,
To the tempest-troubled ocean, Where the seas contend with skies.
Hark! the boatswain hoarsely bawling,
By topsail-sheets and halyards stand!
Down top-gallants quick be hauling!
Down your stay-sails-hand, boys, hand!
Now it freshens, set the braces,
Quick the topsail-sheets let go; Luff, boys, luff! don't make wry faces, Up your topsails nimbly clew.
Round us roars the tempest louder,
Think what fear our minds inthralls!
Harder yet it blows, still harder,
Now again the boatswain calls.
The topsail-yard point to the wind, boys
See all clear to reef each course;
Let the foresheet go-don't mind, boys,
Though the weather should be worse.
Fore and aft the spritsail-yard get,
Reef the mizzen, see all clear;
Hand up, each preventer-brace set!
Man the foreyards, cheer, lads, cheer!
Now the dreadful thunder's roaring,
Peal on peal contending clash,
On our heads fierce rain falls pouring,
In our eyes blue lightnings flash.
One wide water all around us,
All above us one black sky;
Different deaths at once surround us :
Hark! what means that dreadful cry?
The foremast's gone! cries every tongue out,
O'er the lee twelve feet 'bove deck;
A leak beneath the chest-tree's sprung out, Call all hands to clear the wreck.
Quick the lanyards cut to pieces;
Come, my hearts, be stout and bold; Plumb the well-the leak increases, Four feet water in the hold!
While o'er the ship wild waves are beating
We our wives and children mourn;
Alas! from hence there's no retreating,
Alas! to them there's no return!
Still the leak is gaining on us!
Both chain-pumps are choked below:
Heaven have mercy here upon us!
For only that can save us now,
O'er the lee-beam is the land, boys,
Let the guns o'erboard be thrown;
To the pumps call every hand, boys,
See! our mizzen-mast is gone.
The leak we've found, it cannot pour fast,
We've lightened her a foot or more;
Up and rig a jury foremast,
View now the winter storm! Above, one cloud,
Black and unbroken, all the skies o'ershroud;
The unwieldly porpoise, through the day before,
Had rolled in view of boding men on shore;
And sometimes hid and sometimes showed his form,
Dark as the cloud, and furious as the storm.
All where the eye delights, yet dreads, to roam
The breaking billows cast the flying foam
Upon the billows rising-all the deep
Is restless change-the waves, so swelled and steep,
Breaking and sinking and the sunken swells,
Nor one, one moment, in its station dwells :
But nearer land you may the billows trace,
As if contending in their watery chase;
May watch the mightiest till the shoal they reach,
Then break and hurry to their utmost stret h;
Curled as they come, they strike with furious force,
And then, reflowing, take their grating course,
Raking the rounded flints, which ages past
Rolled by their rage, and shall to ages last.
Far off, the petrel, in the troubled way,
Swims with her brood, or flutters in the spray;
She rises often, often drops again,
And sports at ease on the tempestuous main.
High o'er the restless deep, above the reach
Of gunner's hope, vast flights of wild ducks stretch;
Far as the eye can glance on either side,
In a broad space and level line they glide;
All in their wedge-like figures from the north,
Day after day, flight after flight, go forth.
Inshore their passage tribes of sea-gulls urge,
She's rights! she's rights, boys! we're off shore. And drop for prey within the sweeping surge;
GEORGE ALEXANDER STEVENS.
THE SEA IN CALM AND STORM.
ARIOUS and vast, sublime in all its forms,
Oft in the rough, opposing blast they fly
Far back, then turn, and all their force apply,
While to the storm they give their weak, complaining
cry;
Or clap the sleek white pinion to the breast,
When lulled by zephyrs, or when roused by And in the restless ocean dip for rest.
Its colors changing, when from clouds and sun
Shades after shades upon the surface run;
Embrowned and horrid now, and now serene
In limpid blue and evanescent green;
And oft the foggy banks on ocean lie,
Lift the fair sail, and cheat the experienced eye!
Be it the summer noon; a sandy space
The ebbing tide has left upon its place;
Then just the hot and stony beach above,
Light, twinkling streams in bright confusion move,
(For, heated thus, the warmer air ascends,
And with the cooler in its fall contends).
Then the broad bosom of the ocean keeps
An equal motion; swelling as it sleeps,
Then slowly sinking, curling to the strand,
Faint, lazy waves o'ercreep the ridgy sand,
Or tap the tarry boat with gentle blow,
And back return in silence, smooth and slow,
Ships in the calm seem anchored; for they glide
On the still sea, urged solely by the tide.
A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE.
LIFE on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep; Where the scattered waters rave, And the winds their revels keep! Like an angel caged I pine,
On this dull, unchanging shore: O, give me the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest's roar!
Once more on the deck I stand,
Of my own swift gliding craft:
Set sail! farewell to the land;
The gale follows fair abaft.
We shoot through the sparkling foam,
Like an ocean-bird set free,-
Like the ocean-bird, our home
We'll find far out on the sea.
The land is no longer in view,
The clouds have begun to frown; But with a stout vessel and crew,
We'll say, "Let the storm come down!" And the song of our hearts shall be, While the winds and the waters rave, A home on the rolling sea! A life on the ocean wave!
'HE lovely purple of the noon's bestowing
Has vanished from the waters, where it
flung
A royal color, such as gems are throwing
Tyrian or regal garniture among.
'Tis night, and overhead the sky is gleaming,
Through the slight vapor trembles each dim star;
I turn away-my heart is sadly dreaming
Of scenes they do not light, of scenes afar.
My friends, my absent friends!
Do you think of me, as I think of you?
By each dark wave around the vessel sweeping,
Farther am I from old dear friends removed;
Till the lone vigil that I now am keeping,
I did not know how much you were beloved.
How many acts of kindness little heeded,
Kind looks, kind words, rise half reproachful now! Hurried and anxious, my vexed life has speeded, And memory wears a soft accusing brow, My friends, my absent friends!
Do you think of me, as I think of you? The very stars are strangers, as I catch them Athwart the shadowy sails that swell above; I cannot hope that other eyes will watch them At the same moment with a mutual love. They shine not there, as here they now are shining; The very hours are changed.-Ah, do you sleep? O'er each home pillow midnight is decliningMay some kind dream at least my image keep! My friends, my absent friends!
Do you think of me, as I think of you?
Yesterday has a charm, to-day could never
Fling o'er the mind, which knows not till it parts
How it turns back with tenderest endeavor
To fix the past within the heart of hearts.
Absence is full of memory, it teaches
The value of all old familiar things;
The strengthener of affection, while it reaches
O'er the dark parting, with an angel's wings.
My friends, my absent friends!
Do you think of me, as I think of you?
The world, with one vast element omitted-
Man's own especial element, the earth;
Yet, o'er the waters is his rule transmitted
By that great knowledge whence has power its birth.
How oft on some strange loveliness while gazing
Have I wished for you-beautiful as new,
The purple waves like some wild army raising
Their snowy banners as the ship cuts through.
My friends, my absent friends!
Do you think of me, as I think of you? The sword-fish and the shark pursue their slaughters,
War universal reigns these depths along.
Like some new island on the ocean springing,
Floats on the surface some gigantic whale,
From its vast head a silver fountain flinging,
Bright as the fountain in a fairy tale.
My friends, my absent friends!
I read such fairy legends while with you,
Light is amid the gloomy canvas spreading,
The moon is whitening the dusky sails,
From the thick bank of clouds she masters, shedding
The softest influence that o'er night prevails.
Pale is she like a young queen pale with splendor,
Haunted with passionate thoughts too fond, too deep,
The very glory that she wears is tender,
The very eyes that watch her beauty fain would
weep.
My friends, my absent friends!
Do you think of me, as I think of you?
Sunshine is ever cheerful, when the morning
Wakens the world with cloud-dispelling eyes;
The spirits mount to glad endeavor, scorning
What toil upon a path so sunny lies.
Sunshine and hope are comrades, and their weather
Calls into life an energy like spring's;
But memory and moonlight go together,
Reflected in the light that either brings.
My friends, my absent friends!
Do you think of me then? I think of you.
The busy deck is hushed, no sounds are waking
But the watch pacing silently and slow;
The waves against the sides incessant breaking,
And rope and canvas swaying to and fro.
The topmast-sail, it seems like some dim pinnacle
Cresting a shadowy tower amid the air;
While red and fitful gleams come from the binnacle,
The only light on board to guide us—where?
My friends, my absent friends!
Far from my native land, and far from you.
On one side of the ship, the moonbeam's skimmer
In luminous vibrations sweeps the sea,
But where the shadow falls, a strange, pale glinime?
Seems, glow-worm like, amid the waves to be,
All that the spirit keeps of thought and feeling,
Takes visionary hues from such an hour;
But while some phantasy is o'er me stealing,
I start remembrance has a keener power:
My friends! my absent friends!
From the fair dream I start to think of you.
A dusk line in the moonlight-I discover
What all day long vainly I sought to catch ;
Or is it but the varying clouds that hover
Thick in the air, to mock the eyes that watch?
No; well the sailor knows each speck, appearing,
Upon the tossing waves, the far-off strand;
To that dark line our eager ship is steering.
Her voyage done-to morrow we shall land.
LETITIA ELIZABETII LANDON.
PINNING, spinning, by the sea,
On a stormy, rock-ribbed shore,
Where the north-winds downward pour
And the tempests fiercely sweep
From the mountains to the deep,
Hilda spins beside the sea,
All the night!
Spinning, at her lonely window,
By the sea!
With her candle burning clear,
Every night of all the year,
And her sweet voice crooning low
Quaint old songs of love and woe,
Spins she at her lonely window
By the sea.
On a bitter night in March,
Hilda, very young and fair,
With a crown of golden hair,
Watched the tempest raging wild,
Watched the roaring sea—and smiled—
Through that woful night in March,
Long ago!
What, though all the winds were out
In their might?
Richard's boat was tried and true;
Staunch and brave his hardy crew;
Strongest he to do or dare.
Said she, breathing forth a prayer:
"He is safe, though winds are out
In their might!"
But, at length, the morning dawned
Still and clear;
Calm, in azure splendor, lay
All the waters of the bay;
And the ocean's angry moans
Sank to solemn undertones,
As, at last, the morning dawned
Still and clear !
With her waves of golden hair
Floating free,
Hilda ran along the shore,
Gazing off the waters o'er;
Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed-
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!
Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Yes! I must die-blow on sweet breeze, blow on!
Give me one look, before my life be gone,
Oh! give me that, and let me not despair,
One last fond look-and now repeat the prayer."
He had his wish, had more; I will not paint
The lovers' meeting: she beheld him faint,
With tender fears, she took a nearer view,
Her terrors doubling as her hopes withdrew;
He tried to smile, and, half succeeding, said,
"Yes! I must die;" and hope for ever fled.
Still long she nursed him; tender thoughts meantime
Were interchanged, and hopes and views sublime.
To her he came to die, and every day
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no She took some portion of the dread away:
Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn!
While on mine ear it rings,
With him she prayed, to him his Bible read,
Soothed the faint heart, and held the aching head;
She came with smiles the hour of pain to cheer;
Apart, she sighed, alone, she shed the tear;
Then, as if breaking from a cloud, she gave
Fresh light, and gilt the prospect of the grave.
One day he lighter seemed, and they forgot
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that The care, the dread, the anguish of their lot; sings:
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
E called his friend, and prefaced with a sigh
A lover's message-" Thomas, I must die:
Would I could see my Sallie, and could rest
My throbbing temples on her faithful breast,
And gazing, go!-if not, this trifle take,
And say, till death I wore it for her sake;
They spoke with cheerfulness, and seemed to think,
Yet said not so-"perhaps he will not sink":
A sudden brightness in his look appeared,
A sudden vigor in his voice was heard ;-
She had been reading in the book of prayer,
And led him forth, and placed him in his chair;
Lively he seemed, and spoke of all he knew,
The friendly many, and the favorite few;
Nor one that day did he to mind recall,
But she has treasured, and she loves them all;
When in her way she meets them, they appear
Peculiar people - death has made them dear.
He named his friend, but then his hand she prest,
And fondly whispered "Thou must go to rest";
"I go," he said; but, as he spoke, she found
His hand more cold, and fluttering was the sound!
Then gazed affrightened; but she caught a last,
A dying look of love, and all was past!
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