50 THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS Colder and louder blew the wind, A gale from the Northeast, Down came the storm, and smote amain She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed, Come hither! come hither! my little daughter, For I can weather the roughest gale That ever wind did blow." He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat Against the stinging blast; He cut a rope from a broken spar, And bound her to the mast. "O father! I hear the church bells ring, ""Tis a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!" "O father! I hear the sound of guns, Some ship in distress, that cannot live THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS 51 "O father! I see a gleaming light, Oh say, what may it be?" But the father answered never a word, A frozen corpse was he. Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark, The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave, And fast through the midnight dark and drear, Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept And ever the fitful gusts between The breakers were right beneath her bows, And a whooping billow swept the crew Like icicles from her deck. 52 THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS She struck where the white and fleecy waves But the cruel rocks, they gored her side, Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice, At daybreak, on the bleak sea-beach, To see the form of a maiden fair, The salt sea was frozen on her breast, And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed, Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, Christ save us all from a death like this, On the reef of Norman's Woe! LONGFELLOW. THE YELLOW VIOLET HEN beechen buds begin to swell, WHEN And woods the bluebird's warble know, The yellow violet's modest bell Peeps from the last year's leaves below. Ere russet fields their green resume, Of all her train, the hands of Spring Beside the snow-bank's edges cold. Thy parent sun who bade thee view Pale skies, and chilling moisture sip, Has bathed thee in his own bright hue, And streaked with jet thy glowing lip. Yet slight thy form, and low thy seat, When loftier flowers are flaunting nigh. 54 THE YELLOW VIOLET Oft, in the sunless April day, Thy early smile has stayed my walk; So they, who climb to wealth, forget That I should ape the ways of pride. And when the genial hour Awakes the painted tribes of light, WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. |