THE VOICE OF THE WAVES.

66 They are vanished from their place—

66

Let their homes and hearths make moan! But the rolling waters keep no trace

Of pang or conflict gone."

Alas! thou haughty deep!

The strong, the sounding far! My heart before thee dies-I weep To think on what we are!

To think that so we pass

High hope, and thought, and mind— Even as the breath-stain from the glass, Leaving no sign behind!

Sawest thou nought else, thou main,
Thou and the midnight sky?
Nought save the struggle, brief and vain,
The parting agony?

And the sea's voice replied:

"Here nobler things have been!

Power, with the valiant when they died,

To sanctify the scene.

Courage in fragile form;

Faith, trusting to the last;

65

Prayer, breathing heavenward through the storm;

But all alike have passed.

E

Sound on, thou haughty sea,

These have not passed in vain ;
My soul awakes, my hope springs free
On victor wings again.

Thou, from thine empire driven,

May'st vanish with thy powers;

But, by the hearts that here have striven, A loftier boon is ours!

MRS HEMANS.

Written near the Scene of a recent Shipwreck.

THE RESPONSE OF THE WAVES.

"The sea hath spoken."-(ISAIAH Xxiii. 4.)

WHAT are the blue waves saying,
As they talk all day and night?
They pause not in displaying

Their Maker's glorious might.

What are the high waves saying,
That threaten to flood the land?

Adore the wisdom staying

Their march with a line of sand.

What are the wild waves saying,

In concert with the gale?

A glance of the All-surveying

Would make their proud crests quail.

THE RESPONSE OF THE WAVES.

What are the hoarse waves saying,

In their incessant shocks?

That ocean's rod is braying

Earth's proudest mountain-rocks.

What are the kind waves saying,

That nourish both great and small? Through groves and meadows straying, The Lord supports them all.

What are the dread waves saying,
To those that flee God's sight?
In their deepest caverns straying,
His serpent's fang shall smite.

What are the dark waves saying,

As they foam on the miry shore? Such are godless hearts, betraying The shame of their filthy core.

What are the deep waves saying,
In their unfathomed flood?
Such Jesus' love, when praying
For those who shed his blood.

What are the broad waves saying,
With th' earth in their embrace?

They long to be conveying

To all the word of grace.

67

What are the vexed waves saying,
With ever-heaving breast?
Pilgrim beware delaying;

This world is not thy rest.

What are the salt waves saying,
Untainted in every place?
Aside all malice laying,

Season thy speech with grace.

What are the strong waves saying,
That bear the mighty ships?
Let the voice of praise and praying
Ascend from the sailor's lips.

What are the lone waves saying
O'er youth and beauty's head?
The voice of the Judge obeying,
The sea shall yield her dead.

What are the hoar waves saying,
As they murmur to the shore?
As a child of time decaying,
Soon the sea shall be no more!

J. LONGMUIR.

THE SOUND OF THE SEA.

69

THE SOUND OF THE SEA.

THOU art sounding on, thou mighty Sea,
For ever and the same!

The ancient rocks yet ring to thee,
Whose thunders nought can tame.

Oh! many a glorious voice is gone
From the rich bowers of earth,
And hushed is many a lovely one
Of mournfulness, or mirth.

The Dorian flute, that sighed of yore
Along thy wave, is still;

The harp of Judah peals no more

On Zion's awful hill;

And Memnon's lyre hath lost the chord
That breathed the mystic tone;

And the songs, at Rome's high triumphs poured,
Are with her eagles flown;

And mute the Moorish horn, that rang
O'er stream and mountain free;

And the hymn that leagued Crusaders sang
Hath died in Galilee.

But thou art swelling on, thou Deep,
Through many an olden clime: