As Round a Lighthouse to ——
As round a lighthouse swept of sea and air
The waves plunge many fathom deep, and flow
Unresting o’er the rocky base below,
And glimmer shifting in the fitful glare;
So great unrest about thy heart doth go,
So deep a flood of turbulent despair.
Stand true, O tender heart and strong, stand true:
For I, who steer alone across the deep,
By thee, unknown of thee, my course must keep
O’er the foam-crested fields for ever new;
And thou, alone, unknowing, on the steep,
Must watch the waves with ruin all bestrew.
Not overnear to thee my course may run;
Yet pray I, somewhere on the bitter tide
Thy beam the shuddering night for me divide,
And show the heart-red splendour of thy sun
Reorient with delight upon the wide
Waters of gloomy death when life is done.
1871.