Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
The Wreck of the Huron
By Edith M. Thomas (18541925)R
Tide of the under-waves,
Surf of the moaning lee,
Where the hurricane raves,—
Green steeps that are storm-rent and sterile,
Wild-sown with the spoils of the shore,—
The night has passed on and the peril,
And the mariners struggle no more.
Chant for the lives that lie
In unknown haven tossed,
Under a sobbing sky.
Sing requiem, praise to the valor
Unshaken though Fate held the scourge;
But dawnlight unveils the stern pallor
Of faces swept cold by the surge.
Never in battle a-sea,
Iron-girted for war,
Challenge shall echo from thee:
Storm, darkness, and depths are thy foemen,
And each hero stood to his post;
But master and sailor and yeomen,
Their names shall give fame to the coast.
Aged seas without pulse,
Let them sleep well who sleep
Lapped in sea-weed and dulse;
They miss not the legend engraven,
The delicate springing of flowers,
They miss, who, by inland and haven,
Sit still through the sorrowful hours!