Which gives the elastic nerves a freer play,
And tints the languid cheek with hues of health.
The sand-beach and the sea!
Who can divine
Their mystic intercourse, that day and night
Surceaseth not? On comes the thundering surge,
Lifting its mountain-head, with menace stern,
To whelm the unresisting; but impelled
In all the plenitude of kingly power
To change its purpose of authority.
Breaking its wand of might, doth hurry back;
And then, repenting, with new wrath return.
Yet still that single, silvery line abides,
Lowly, and fearless, and immutable.
God gives it strength.
So may He deign to grant
The sand-line of our virtues, power to cope
With all temptation. When some secret snare
Doth weave its meshes round our trembling souls,
That in their frailty turn to Him alone,
So may He give us strength.
Nahant is a rocky peninsula, stretching boldly into the ocean, and connected by beaches with the mainland. Some of its cliffs have an elevation of a hundred feet, and wonderfully excavated rocks are the boundary of its shores.
Tradition reports that its name was derived from