Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.
Trafalgar
By Ebenezer Elliott (1781–1849)A
And frowning Trafalgar,
From bursting clouds, went forth the voice
Of elemental war;
From man, the insect, came,
Beneath the frown of Trafalgar,
His deadly voice of flame.
Which God’s stern brow cast wide,
“Now, victory or Westminster!”
Said Nelson, in his pride.
Or what will England say?”
“They shall!” cried accents from the deep,
Where dead men weltering lay.
Down stooped both sea and sky;
And, like a flood on Collingwood,
The clouds rushed from on high.
Joined then in horrid strife.
O Life, thou art an awful thing!—
For what is God but Life?
Made up one dismal cry:
The affrighted storm asked what it meant,
And Death made no reply.
A silent spirit trod;
He clasped them in the embrace of Death,—
And what is Death but God?
He asked not of their cause;
While, right or wrong, the weak and strong
Obeyed alike his laws.
Worse tyrants summed their gains;
And toil-worn nations sang and danced
(As maniacs dance) in chains!
The turmoil passed away!
“Where are the weak?” said sun and cloud;
“The mighty!—where are they?”
Where dolphins gambolled free,
And heroes in their glory lay—
Flew over the smooth sea.
The God of Peace looked down,
Though sternly, on their bed of death,
With pity in his frown.
All peaceful in one grave,
Like babies in their nurses’ arms,
Slept under the green wave.
“That make the angels weep,”
Why seek the gift that comes unsought,—
His boon of dreadful sleep?