UPON a barren steep, Above a stormy deep, I saw an angel watching the wild sea; Earth was that barren steep, Time was that stormy deep, And the opposing shore, eternity! "Why dost thou watch the wave? Thy feet the waters lave; The tide ingulfs thee if thou dost delay." "Unscath'd I watch the wave, Time not the angels' grave, I wait until the ocean ebbs away!" Hush'd on the angel's breast, I saw an infant rest, Smiling upon the gloomy hell below. "What is the infant prest, O angel, to thy breast?" "The child God gave me in the long-ago? "Mine all upon the earth -- The angel's angel-birth, Smiling all terror from the howling wild!" -- Never may I forget The dream that haunts me yet, Of Patience nursing Hope -- the angel and the child! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LONDON CHURCHES by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ULYSSES BUILDS HIS BED by JEAN DE BOSSCHERE LYDFORD JOURNEY by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) LIKE A SICK CHILD by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING ON THE SEAS AND FAR AWAY by ROBERT BURNS SONNET, TO GENERVA (2) by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |