BESIDE the coast for many a rood Were fragments of a shipwreck strewn; And there in sad and sombre mood I walked the sands alone. Torn bales and broken boxes lay, Heaped high 'mid shattered sails and spar, While grimly down the moonlit bay The wrecked hull gleamed from far. Well had the storm its mission wrought, With thunder crash and billowy roar; For not one precious waif was brought Safe to the rugged shore. Yet stay! what tiny sparkling thing Shines faintly in the moonbeams cold? I stooped, and wondering, grasped a ring, A fairy ring of gold. Of great and small, of rich and rare, Of all yon stranded vessel bore, Only this gem the waves would spare To cast unharmed ashore. With what a deep and tender thrill I put the modest gem away, And while the silvery vapors chill Crept ghost-like up the bay, I dreamed of shivering human lives Wrecked on Fate's cold and cruel lee, Trusting that some small hope survives, Spared to them from the sea! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PSALM 136 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE ON A CARRIER WHO DIED OF DRUNKENNESS by GEORGE GORDON BYRON WOMAN'S WILL by JOHN GODFREY SAXE THE TRAMPS by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE ROLL-CALL by NATHANIEL GRAHAM SHEPHERD THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE AT [OR AFTER] CORUNNA by CHARLES WOLFE THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 4: LORD STANHOPE'S STEAMER by T. BAKER |