THE LAST OF THE NARWHALE.
63
"We cleared the floes: through an open sea
The Narwhale south'ard sailed,
Till a day came round when the white fog rose.
And the wind astern had failed.
In front of the Greenland glacier line,
And close to its base were we;
Through the misty pall we could see the wall
That beetled above the sea.
A fear like the fog crept over our hearts
As we heard the hollow roar
Of the deep sea thrashing the cliffs of ice
For leagues along the shore.
"The years have com© and the years have gone,
But it never wears away—
The sense I have of the sights and sounds
That marked that woful day.
Flung here and there at the ocean's will,
As it flung the broken floe—
What strength had we 'gainst the tiger sea
That sports with a sailor's woe?
