Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.
The Village of Scheveningen
By Charles Swain (1801–1874)A
From the Scheveningen coast;
Like vultures in their clamorous flight,
Or the trampling of a host.
With harsh and threatening cry;
Storm was upon the lonely sea!
Storm on the midnight sky!
Like spectres from their graves;
Then—burst a hundred voices forth:
“The waves!—the waves!—the waves!”
And on their deadly way,
Like lions, came the mighty seas,
Impatient for their prey!
O, vision of despair!—
Mid ruins of their falling homes,
The blackness of the air.
The elemental strife,
Howling above the shrieks of death,—
The struggling groans for life!
With stern, delirious eye;
Wildly they looked around for help,—
No help, alas! was nigh.
Uttering complaints, in vain;
No arm but the Almighty arm
Might stem that dreadful main!
That night the tempest-tost
Saw their paternal homes engulfed,—
Lost! O, forever lost!
In the far heavens shone;
But where the pleasant village stood,
Swept the dark floods alone!