Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
Written at Tynemouth, Northumberland, after a Tempestuous Voyage
By William Lisle Bowles (17621850)A
Much musing on the track of terror past,
When o’er the dark wave rode the howling blast,
Pleased I look back, and view the tranquil tide
That laves the pebbled shore; and now the beam
Of evening smiles on the gray battlement,
And yon forsaken tower that time has rent;—
The lifted oar far off with silver gleam
Is touched, and hushed is all the billowy deep!
Soothed by the scene, thus on tired Nature’s breast
A stillness slowly steals, and kindred rest;
While sea-sounds lull her, as she sinks to sleep,
Like melodies which mourn upon the lyre,
Waked by the breeze, and, as they mourn, expire!