Page:Poems that every child should know (ed. Burt, 1904).djvu/319

Rh Then bankes came downe with ruin and rout—

Then beaten foam flew round about—

Then all the mighty floods were out.

So farre, so fast the eygre drave,

The heart had hardly time to beat

Before a shallow seething wave

Sobb'd in the grasses at oure feet:

The feet had hardly time to flee

Before it brake against the knee,

And all the world was in the sea.

Upon the roofe we sate that night,

The noise of bells went sweeping by;

I mark'd the lofty beacon light

Stream from the church tower, red and high—

A lurid mark and dread to see;

And awsome bells they were to mee,

That in the dark rang "Enderby."

They rang the sailor lads to guide

From roofe to roofe who fearless row'd;

And I—my sonne was at my side,

And yet the ruddy beacon glow'd:

And yet he moan'd beneath his breath,

"O come in life, or come in death!

O lost! my love, Elizabeth."

And didst thou visit him no more?

Thou didst, thou didst, my daughter deare

The waters laid thee at his doore,

Ere yet the early dawn was clear.