With surging tides, upon whose treacherous bed
The keels of heavy vessels ground and ground.
The channel must be deepened, men agree,
And so great thunderous blasts of rock they blew,
And all the sleepy sands were dredged; till, free
From fear, the heaviest ships went swiftly through.
We fret and foam as if our surface tide
Was fathoms deep, and never know the truth
Till love or sorrow through the water ride
And grate its keel upon the sands of youth;