Above the cities of a world gone by! Yet more, the billows and the depths have more! The battle-thunders will not break their rest. Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy grave! Give back the true and brave! Give back the lost and lovely!— those for whom The place was kept at board and hearth so long! The prayer went up through midnight's breathless gloom, And the vain yearning woke midst festal song! Hold fast thy buried isles, thy towers o'erthrown, But all is not thine own. Open one point on the weather bow Is the lighthouse tall on Fire Island head; There's a shade of doubt on the captain's brow, And the pilot watches the heaving lead. I stand at the wheel and with eager eye As her broadside fair to the blast she lays; No time to spare! it is touch and go, And the captain growls "Down HELM! HARD DOWN!" As my weight on the whirling spokes I throw, While heaven grows black with the stormcloud's frown. High o'er the knight-heads flies the spray, With the swerving leap of a startled steed The topsails flutter, the jibs collapse And belly and tug at the groaning cleats; The spanker slaps and the mainsail flaps, And thunders the order, "TACKS AND SHEETS!" 'Mid the rattle of blocks and the tramp of the crew Hisses the rain of the rushing squall; The sails are aback from clew to clew, And now is the moment for "MAINSAIL, HAUL!" And the heavy yards like a baby's toy By fifty strong arms are swiftly swung; She holds her way, and I look with joy For the first white spray o'er the bulwarks flung. "LET GO, AND HAUL!" 't is the last command, And the head-sails fill to the blast once more; Astern and to leeward lies the land, With its breakers white on the shingly shore. What matters the reef, or the rain, or the squali? I steady the helm for the open sea; The first-mate clamors, BELAY THERE, ALL!" And the captain's breath once more comes free. And so off shore let the good ship fly; Little care I how the gusts may blow, In my fo'castle-bunk in a jacket dry, Eight bells have struck, and my watch is below. -- MRS. CELIA THAXTER. SONG OF THE EMIGRANTS IN BER- WHERE the remote Bermudas ride ANDREW MARVELL. O'ER the glad waters of the dark blue sea, - O, who can tell save he whose heart hath tried, zeal, And where the feebler faint can only feel- Its hope awaken and its spirit soar? |