WE sat together, you and I, And watched the daylight's dying bloom, And saw the great white ships go by, Like phantoms through the gathering gloom. Like phantom lights the lonely stars Looked through the sea-fog's ghastly veil, Beyond the headland's rocky bars We heard the stormy surges wail. We sat together, hand in hand, Upon the lonely, sea-girt wall, And watched, along the glimmering strand, The wild, white breakers plunge and fall. You spoke of pleasures past away, Of hopes that left the heart forlorn, Of life's unrest and love's decay, And lonely sorrows proudly borne. The sea's phantasmal sceneries Commingled with your mournful theme; The splendors of your starry eyes Were drowned in memory's deepening dream. Darker and lonelier grew the night Along the horizon's dreary verge, And lonelier through the lessening light Sang the wild sea-wind's wailing dirge. When, kindling through the gathering gloom, Beyond West-Island's beetling brow, Where breakers dash, and surges boom, We saw Point Judith's fires aglow. Piercing night's solemn mystery, The lighthouse reared its lonely form, Serene above the weltering sea And guardant through the gathering storm. So, o'er the sea of life's unrest, Through grief's wild storm, and sorrow's gloom, Faith's heavenly pharos in the breast Lights up the dark with deathless bloom. The sea-born sadness of the hour Melted beneath its holy spell; Faith blossomed into perfect flower, And our hearts whispered, "All is well." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PARADISE by FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER POEM FOR PICTURE: TO A PORTRAIT BY EDWARD STEICHEN (RACHMANINOFF) by FRANK ANKENBRAND JR. THE BALLAD OF BITTER FRUIT by THEODORE FAULLAIN DE BANVILLE THE BIRD FANCIER by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |