THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP. That to the ocean seemed to say,- How beautiful she is! How fair Through wind and wave, right onward steer! Are not the signs of doubt or fear. Sail forth into the sea of life, Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate! We know what Master laid thy keel, 313 In spite of rock and tempest's roar, THE EVENING STAR. JUST above yon sandy bar, As the day grows fainter and dimmer, Lonely and lovely, a single star Lights the air with a dusky glimmer. Into the ocean faint and far Falls the trail of its golden splendor, Chrysaor rising out of the sea, Showed thus glorious and thus emulous, Leaving the arms of Callirrhoe, Forever tender, soft, and tremulous. Thus o'er the ocean faint and far Trailed the gleam of his falchion brightly ; Is it a God, or is it a star That, entranced, I gaze on nightly ! THE SECRET OF THE SEA. 315 THE SECRET OF THE SEA. An! what pleasant visions haunt me All my dreams, come back to me. Sails of silk and ropes of sendal, And the answer from the shore! Most of all, the Spanish ballad Like the long waves on a sea-beach, Telling how the Count Arnaldos, How he heard the ancient helmsman Till his soul was full of longing, "Wouldst thou," -so the helmsman answered, "Learn the secret of the sea? Only those who brave its dangers Comprehend its mystery! In each sail that skims the horizon, Hear those mournful melodies; Till my soul is full of longing TWILIGHT. THE twilight is sad and cloudy, But in the fisherman's cottage Close, close it is pressed to the window, To see some form arise. And a woman's waving shadow Now rising to the ceiling, Now bowing and bending low. SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. What tale do the roaring ocean, And the night-wind, bleak and wild, As they beat at the crazy casement, Tell to that little child? And why do the roaring ocean, And the night-wind, wild and bleak, As they beat at the heart of the mother, Drive the color from her cheek? SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. SOUTHWARD with fleet of ice And the east-wind was his breath. His lordly ships of ice Glistened in the sun; On each side, like pennons wide, His sails of white sea-mist But where he passed there were cast Eastward from Campobello Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed; Three days or more seaward he bore, Alas! the land-wind failed, And ice-cold grew the night; 317 |