Are shattered by the wind that hurls the foam
Adown the dreary vales. In wintry realms
The viewless pinions of the northern breeze,
Thus shake the snow-wreaths from the hoary heads
Of everlasting hills!

An awful pause !—

Again the quick-reviving tempest roars

With fiercer rage !-These changes image well
The sullen calm of comfortless despair,

The restless tumult of the guilty heart!

III.

[A CALM-AT MID-DAY.]

Now in the fervid noon the smooth bright sea
Heaves slowly, for the wandering winds are dead
That stirred it into foam. The lonely ship
Rolls wearily, and idly flap the sails

Against the creaking mast. The lightest sound
Is lost not on the ear, and things minute

Attract the observant eye.

The scaly tribe,

Bright-winged, that upward flash from torrid seas, Like startled birds, now burst their glassy caves, And glitter in the sun; while diamond drops

From off their briny pinions fall like rain,

And leave a dimpled track.

The horizon clouds

Are motionless, and yield fantastic forms

Of antique towers, vast woods and frozen lakes, Huge rampant beasts, and giant phantoms seen In wildering visions only.

High o'er head,

Dazzling the sight, hangs, quivering like a lark, The silver Tropic-bird;-at length it flits

Far in cerulean depths and disappears,

Save for a moment, when with fitful gleam

It waves its wings in light. The pale thin moon,
Her crescent floating on the azure air,

Shows like a white bark sleeping on the main

When not a ripple stirs. Yon bright clouds form, (Ridged as the ocean sands, with spots of blue, Like water left by the receding tide,)

A fair celestial shore!-How beautiful!
The spirit of eternal peace hath thrown
A spell upon the scene! The wide blue floor
Of the Atlantic world-a sky-girt plain-
Now looks as never more the Tempest's tread
Would break its shining surface; and the ship
Seems destined ne'er again to brave the gale,
Anchored for ever on the silent deep!

IV.

[SUN-RISE.]

The stars have melted in the morning air,

The white moon waneth dim.-The glorious sun,
Slow-rising from the cold cerulean main,

Now shoots through broken clouds his upward beams,
That kindle into day. At length his orb,

Reddening the ocean verge, with sudden blaze
Awakes a smiling world ;-the dull gray mist

Is scattered, and the sea-view opens wide!

The glassy waves

Are touched with joy, and dance in sparkling throngs

Around the gallant bark. The roseate clouds

Rest on the warm horizon,-like far hills
Their radiant outlines gleam in yellow light,

And o'er their shadowy range a thin scud floats,
Like wreaths of smoke from far-off beacon-fires.

The deep blue vault is streaked with golden bars,
Like veins in wealthy mines; and where the rays
Of Day's refulgent orb are lost in air,

In small round masses shine the fleecy clouds,

As bright as snow-clad bowers when sudden gleams
Flash on the frozen earth.

Ascending high

The gorgeous steps of heaven, the dazzling sun
Contracts his disk, and rapidly assumes

A silver radiance-glittering like a globe
Of diamond spars !

V.

[SUN-SET.]

Now near the flushed horizon brightly glows

The red dilated sun.

Around his path

Aerial phantoms float in liquid light,

And steeped in beauty, momently present

Fresh forms, and strange varieties of hue,

As fair and fleeting as our early dreams!
Behold him rest on yon cloud-mountain's peak,—
Touched with celestial fire, volcano-like,

The dazzling summit burns ;-eruptive flames
Of molten gold with ruddy lustre tinge

The western heavens, and shine with mellowed light
Through the transparent crests of countless waves !

The scene is changed-behind the ethereal mount
Now fringed with light-the day-god downward speeds
His unseen way;-yet where his kindling steps

Lit the blue vault, the radiant trace remains,

E'en as the sacred memory of the past

Illumes life's evening hour!-Again! Again!

He proudly comes! and lo! resplendent sight!

Bursts through the cloud-formed hill, whose shattered sides Are edged with mimic lightning!—his red beams

Concentrating at last in one full blaze,

Bright as a flaming bark, his fiery form

Sinks in the cold blue main !

The golden clouds

Fade into gray-the broad cerulean tide
A darker tint assumes. In restless throngs
Phosphoric glow-worms deck with living gems
The twilight wave, as Orient fire-flies gleam
-or like reflected stars,

In dusky groves,-
When evening zephyrs kiss the dimpled face
Of that far lake whose crystal mirror bears
An image of my home! Ah those white walls,
Now flash their silent beauty on my soul,
And, like a cheerful sun-burst on my way,
Revive a transient joy!

VI.

[NIGHT.]

The day-beams slowly fade, and shadowy night,

Soft as a gradual dream, serenely steals

Over the watery waste.

Like low-breathed strains

Of distant music on the doubtful ear,

When solitude and silence reign around,

The small waves gently murmur.

Calm and pale

A phantom of the sky-the full-orbed moon

Hath glided into sight. The glimmering stars
Now pierce the soft obscurity of heaven

In golden swarms, innumerous and bright

As insect-myriads in the sunset air.

The breeze is hushed, and yet the tremulous sea,

As if by hosts of unseen spirits trod,

Is broken into ripples, crisp and clear
As shining fragments of a frozen stream
Beneath the winter sun. The lunar wake
Presents to rapt imagination's view
A pathway to the skies!

In such a scene

Of glory and repose, the rudest breast

Is pure and passionless,-the holy calm

Is breathed at once from heaven, and sounds and thoughts

Of human strife a mockery would seem

Of Nature's mystic silence. Sacred dreams

Unutterable, deep, and undefined,

Now crowd upon the soul, and make us feel
An intellectual contact with the worlds
Beyond our mortal vision.

VII.

[LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.]

Profusely scattered o'er the fields of air,
Float the thin clouds, whose fleecy outlines dim,
Fade, like departing dreams, from mortal sight-
So gradually with heaven's deep blue they blend
Their paler tints.-

Now on the vessel's deck,

Luxuriously reclined in idle ease,

I mark the varied main. From either side

I

gaze alternate, and strange contrasts find

Of light and shade. The scene divided seems.
Sun-ward, the noon-tide rays almost o'erpower
The ocean's azure hue, like glittering stars