Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
Lines Written at Spithead
By George Croly (1780–1860)H
It comes on the swell
Of the stormy ocean wave;
’T is no earthly sound,
But a tale profound
From the mariner’s deep-sea grave.
And the signals flash,
And the thunder is on the gale;
And the ocean is white
With its own wild light,
Deadly and dismal and pale.
Smites the seaman’s gaze,
And the sea rolls in fire and in foam;
And the surge’s roar
Shakes the rocky shore,
We hear the sea-knell come.
The sand their pillow,
Ten thousand men lie low;
And still their dirge
Is sung by the surge,
When the stormy night-winds blow.
On your pillow deep
In peace! for no mortal care,
No art can deceive,
No anguish can heave,
The heart that once slumbers there.