Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Oceanica: Vol. XXXI. 1876–79. | | | | Miscellaneous: Atlantic Ocean | | On a Rock in the Atlantic | | Bryan Waller Procter (1787–1874) |
| | | HERE in this solemn spot, from hour to hour, | |
| From age to age, earth and the mighty sea | |
| Fight for dominion. Here—where none can see, | |
| None hear, none aid,—when autumn tempests lower, | |
| And the wild winds strike loud their stormy drums, | 5 |
| Forth from his caves the blown Atlantic comes, | |
| Scattering his foaming fury, night by night, | |
| ’Gainst the scarred basalt’s all-enduring might. | |
| Stern foes! who fight for lords ye never saw, | |
| Not vain your noise, if from the unending strife | 10 |
| A peaceful lesson clamorous man would draw, | |
| And thereby learn to sheathe his useless knife; | |
| Or must ye both still set life against life, | |
| Obeying thus some wise but unknown law? | | | | |
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