Classic Poem

Winter and snow-drifts compass me, —
You dwell where warmth and sunshine are, —
Between, the miles stretch drearily;
O inaccessible and far!
I wonder if your memory thrills
When threatening clouds the sunset drown?
Look toward these bleak and desolate hills,
Beloved, when the night shuts down!

O winter-fettered soul! O love,
With sorrow's self forever twinned!
The cold skies threaten from above, —
The wild waves wrestle with the wind, —
While Eve unbraids her shadowy locks,
And scatters stars amid their brown, —
Think of the sea-shore and the rocks,
Beloved, when the night shuts down!

Since I am swept so utterly
Into the distance dim and far,
Do you forget my love and me,
As heaven forgets a banished star?
O for a whisper from your lips
My fear to crush, — my hope to crown!
Think of the harbor and the ships,
Beloved, when the night shuts down!

The lonesome sea-bird soars and sails
In devious circles, as of old, —
A ship with white wings fades and fails
Into the far heaven, gray and cold, —
And dimness now the distance fills, —
The waves grow dark, the chill skies frown, —
Look toward these bleak and desolate hills,
Beloved, when the night shuts down!