Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.
AppendixI. Juvenile Poems. The Sea-Diver
M
My sleep upon its rocking tide;
And many an eye has followed me
Where billows clasp the worn seaside.
When ocean by the sun is kissed!
When fades the evening’s purple flush,
My dark wing cleaves the silver mist.
The bright arch of the splendid deep
My ear has heard the sea-shell breathe
O’er living myriads in their sleep.
And by the pearly diadem;
Where the pale sea-grape had o’ergrown
The glorious dwellings made for them.
I poised above a helmless bark,
And soon I saw the shattered thing
Had passed away and left no mark.
A ship, that had rode out the gale,
Sunk down, without a signal-gun,
And none was left to tell the tale.
The cloud resign its golden crown,
When to the ocean’s beating heart
The sailor’s wasted corse went down.
Beneath the bright and silver sea!
Peace—that their relics there were laid
With no vain pride and pageantry.