Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

John Ruskin 1819–1900

The Wreck

Ruskin-J

ITS masts of might, its sails so free,

Had borne the scatheless keel

Through many a day of darken’d sea,

And many a storm of steel;

When all the winds were calm, it met

(With home-returning prore)

With the lull

Of the waves

On a low lee shore.

The crest of the conqueror

On many a brow was bright;

The dew of many an exile’s eye

Had dimm’d the dancing sight;

And for love and for victory

One welcome was in store,

In the lull

Of the waves

On a low lee shore.

The voices of the night are mute

Beneath the moon’s eclipse;

The silence of the fitful flute

Is on the dying lips.

The silence of my lonely heart

Is kept forevermore

In the lull

Of the waves

On a low lee shore.