LEFT ASHORE.
145
For lo, as I looked, I saw the mistOver the channel curl and twist,And blot the breaker out of sightWhere its angry horn gored the waters white,Only a sea-turn, I heard them say,That the climbing sun will burn away;But I saw it silently settling downLike an ashen pall upon the town.Oh, hush! I cried; 't is some huge storm's rack!My darlings, my darlings, will never come back!
All day I stood on the old sea-wall,Watching the great swell rise and fall;And the spume and spray drove far and thin,But never a sail came staggering in.And out of the east a wet wind blew,And over my head the foam-flakes flew;Down came the night without a star,Loud was the cry of the raging bar;And I wrung my hands, and called, and prayed,And the black wild east all answer made.
