Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/323

 OFF BAR NEC AT. 3 1/

��OFF BARNEGAT.

Q UNSET, athwart the winter sea, O Kissed keel, and sail, and tall masts three Of a schooner nearing Barnegat. The captain s wife in the cabin sat, With warm arms round her baby fair, And cheek bent o er its yellow hair. Fearless alike of wind and sea, She rocked find sang contentedly, Or stooped the baby brow to kiss And wondered idly if twould miss Her clasp if aught should part them now, Then kissed again from baby s brow The thought, and sang the lullaby That held her dream of harbor nigh. The captain wiped his dimming glass From mist, and said, &quot; God bless the lass !&quot; The list ning sailors lightly stepped Or one by one to hear her crept, As though, some way, the sweet air drew Their better selves above the blue, And home and God seemed strangely nigh As still she sang &quot; Sweet by and bye.&quot;

Ere midnight passed or morning broke, Ere little child or mother woke, Came crash and cry came falling spar. The Tolck was stranded on the bar ! 27*

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