THE LAST OF THE NARWHALE.
61
Within the current's northward stream;
But, ere the long day's close,
We found the whales and filled the ship
Amid the friendly floes.
"Then came a rest: the day was blown
Like a cloud before the night;
In the South the sun went redly down—
In the North rose another light,
Neither sun nor moon, but a shooting dawn,
That silvered our lonely way;
It seemed we sailed in a belt of gloom,
Upon either side, a day.
The north wind smote the sea to death;
The pack-ice closed us round—
The Narwhale stood in the level fields
As fast as a ship aground.
A weary time it was to wait.
And to wish for spring to come,
With the pleasant breeze and the blessed sun,
To open the way toward home.
