Epes Sargent (1813–1880)

HOW changed the scene! our parting gaze, last night,

Was on the three-hilled city’s swelling dome,—

The dome, o’erlooking from its stately height

Full many a sacred spire and happy home.

Rose over all, clouding the azure air,

A canopy of smoke, swart Labor’s sign;

While, like a forest Winter has stripped bare,

Bristled the masts along the water’s line.

But now, the unbroken ocean and the sky

Seem to enclose us in a crystal sphere;

A new creation fills the straining eye;

No bark save ours,—no human trace is here!

But in the brightening east, a crimson haze

Floats up before the sun, his incense fresh of praise!