So ravishing soft upon the tide
Of the infuriate gust, it did career,
It might have sooth’d its rugged charioteer,
And sunk him to a zephyr; – then it died,
Melting in melody; – and I descried,
Borne to some wizard stream, the form appear
Of druid sage, who on the far-off ear
Pour’d his lone song, to which the surge replied;
Or thought I heard the hapless pilgrim’s knell,
Lost in some wild enchanted forest’s bounds
By unseen beings sung; or are these sounds
Such, as ’tis said, at night are known to swell
By startled shepherd on the lonely heath,
Keeping his night-watch and portending death?
(Henry Kirke White)
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Based on Topics: Night Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Work & Career PoemsBased on Keywords: portending, infuriate, night-watch