Now, where the quick Rhone thus hath cleft his way, The brightest through these parted hills hath forked That in such gaps as desolation worked, There the hot shaft should blast whatever therein lurked. BYRON. MIDSUMMER NIGHT STORM ON THE PYRENEES IS night, and all around is deadly still, And now the low wailing of the mountain-rill, Through deepest solitude that wanders by. The giant hills their midnight conclave hold With clouds and forest mantles round them rolled: Again, again, it breaks upon the gloom, And as the thunder, swathed in purple pall, A thousand echoes, starting at the call, Adown the darksome Roncesvalles sail, Till fancy hears upon the hollow gale Its phantom Knights above the battle plain Charge on the storm, that to a feeble wail Dies o'er the spectre-night: the thunders wane To murmurs down the skies, and all is hush'd again. MALCOLM. THE STORM. MARK Vi. 47-51. REAR was within the tossing bark, And waves came rolling high and dark. And men stood breathless in their dread, But One was there, who rose and said And the wind ceased-it ceased-that word And slumber settled on the deep, As when the righteous falls asleep, Thou that didst rule the angry hour, Thou that didst bow the billow's pride, Thy mandates to fulfil So speak to passion's raging tide, MRS. HEMANS. SHIPWRECK. HEN a sound arose, they knew not where,— It came from the sea, or it came from the air; 'Twas louder than tempest that ever blew, And the sea fowl screamed, and in terror flew; Some ran to the cords, some kneeled at the shrine, But all the wild elements seemed to combine : 'Twas just but one moment of stir and commotion, And down went the ship like a bird of the ocean. HOGG. SHIPWRECK. HEN rose from sea to sky the wild farewell; As eager to anticipate their grave; And the sea yawned around her like a hell, And down she sucked with her the whirling wave, Like one who grapples with his enemy, And strives to strangle him before he die. And first one universal shriek there rushed, A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry BYRON. SHIPWRECK. ND now, lashed on by destiny severe, With horror fraught the dreadful scene draws near! The ship hangs hovering on the verge of death,— Till one, who seems in agony to strive, FALCONER. SHIPWRECK. 3ER giant-form O'er wrathful surge, through blackening storm, 'Mid the deep darkness: white as snow, The main she will traverse for ever and aye. Many ports will exult at the gleam of her mast !— Hush! hush! thou vain dreamer! this hour is her last. Five hundred souls in one instant of dread Are hurried o'er the deck; And fast the miserable ship Becomes a lifeless wreck. Her keel hath struck on a hidden rock, Her planks are torn asunder, And down come her masts with a reeling shock, And a hideous crash like thunder. Her sails are draggled in the brine, That gladdened late the skies; And her pendant that kissed the fair moonshine Down many a fathom lies. Her beauteous sides, whose radiant hues Gleamed softly from below, And flung a warm and sunny flush O'er the wreaths of murmuring snow, |