SEA-VISIONS
There was a calm upon the Atlantic Sea;
My ship lay rolling on its rolling swell,
And with its lurch the sails flapped heavily,
And then it was that a strange chance befell.
My ship lay rolling on its rolling swell,
And with its lurch the sails flapped heavily,
And then it was that a strange chance befell.
All round the horizon was a sunset glow,
A bank of many-coloured clouds and fair,
And as I watched them gradually grow,
Of a dim distant speck I was aware.
A bank of many-coloured clouds and fair,
And as I watched them gradually grow,
Of a dim distant speck I was aware.
A something moved towards us o'er the ocean,
Where naught was but an azure blank before;
And now we marked its undulating motion,
Now saw a form, and heard the plashing oar.
Where naught was but an azure blank before;
And now we marked its undulating motion,
Now saw a form, and heard the plashing oar.
Closer it came and we beheld a man,
Whose face as one already dead was pale;
With fixed, stern look he seemed the waves to scan,
Nor raised his forehead to our sudden hail.
Whose face as one already dead was pale;
With fixed, stern look he seemed the waves to scan,
Nor raised his forehead to our sudden hail.
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