Poems (Terry, 1861)/Here
HERE.
Sweet summer-night, beside the sea,Cast all thy sweet life over me!Thy silence and serenity, Thy healing and content;The rushing waves that fall and breakUnutterable music make,And words that no man ever spake Are to its measure lent.
The salt wind kisses into restBoth languid eye and fevered breast,The cool gray rock, with sea-weeds drest, Gives shadow, still with strength;The bitter and baptismal seaWith living water sprinkles me,Slow patience sets her bondsman free, And blesses him at length.
There is a time in every tideWhen surf and billow both subside, And on the outward current glide Both shark and pirate sail;The shipwrecked sailor, cast ashore,Perceives afar that lessening roar,And gives one desperate struggle more. Ah! shall that struggle fail?