Surges o’er the reef were dashing;

Horror of the storm-lit air

Still’d the sea-gull; hail was thrashing

Down upon the boiling sea.

In my skiff, that mid-fjord quiver’d,

Mast and tackle creak’d and shiver’d,

Tatter’d sails blew far a-lee,

Scarce a shred of them remaining,

Every nail and stanchion straining!

From the beetling summits sunder’d.