'He never looked nor smiled at me,
Though I stood there alone;
His brow was very grave and high,
Lit with a glory from the sky—
The wild bark bounded on.
'I shrieked: "Oh, take me—take me, love!
The night is falling dread."—
"My boat may come no nearer shore;
And, hark! how mad the billows roar!
Art thou afraid?" he said.
'"Afraid! with thee?"—"The wind sweeps fierce
The foamy rocks among;
A perilous voyage waiteth me."—
"Then, then, indeed, I go with thee,"
I cried, and forward sprung.
'All drenched with brine, all pale with fear—
Ah no, not fear; 'twas bliss!—
I felt the strong arms draw me in:
If after death to heaven I win,
'Twill be such joy as this!
'No kiss, no smile, but aye that clasp—
Tender, and close, and brave;
While, like a tortured thing, upleapt
The boat, and o'er her deck there swept
Wave thundering after wave.
'I looked not to the stormy deep,
Nor to the angry sky;
Whether for life or death we wrought,
My whole world dwindled to one thought—
Where he is, there am I!
'On—on—through leaping waves, slow calmed,
With salt spray on our hair,
And breezes singing in the sail,
Before a safe and pleasant gale,
The boat went bounding fair:
'But whether to a shore we came,
Or seaward sailed away,
Alas! to me is all unknown:
O happy dream, too quickly flown!
O cruel, cruel day!'
Pale Helen lived—or died: dull time
O'er all that history rolls;
Sailed they or sunk they on life's waves?—
I only know earth holds two graves,
And heaven two blessed souls.