Page:Poetical Remains.pdf/155

Rh

Wears, amidst all its quiet loveliness, A hue of desolation, and the calm, The solitude and silence which pervade Earth, air, and ocean, seem belonging less To peace than sadness! We have proudly stood Even on this shore, beside the Atlantic wave, When it hath looked not thus.

Sebast.Aye, now thy soul Is in the past! Oh no, it looked not thus When the morn smiled upon our thousand sails, And the winds blew for Afric! How that hour, With all its hues of glory, seems to burst Again upon my vision! I behold The stately barks, the arming, the array, The crests, the banners of my chivalry Swayed by the sea-breeze till their motion shewed Like joyous life! How the proud billows foamed! And the oars flashed, like lightnings of the deep, And the tall spears went glancing to the sun, And scattering round quick rays, as if to guide