Loud, louder still the batteries poured their fire,
And softer rippled wavelets o’er the strand.
’Twixt Man and Nature, oh, what contrast dire!
The clattering death-tubes scarce a zephyr fanned.
Is Ocean awed to silence by the land,
Or is’t amazed at human hate and rage?
The eye ferocious, and the red right hand
That writes its name renowned in History’s page?
Nature, I ween, is shocked, and beasts themselves more sage!