OCEAN SKETCHES.

Written on the voyage to India.

I.

[A BREEZE AT MID-DAY.]

THE distant haze, like clouds of silvery dust,

Now sparkles in the sun.

Whitens the liquid plain;

The freshening breeze and like a steed

With proud impatience fired, the glorious ship
Quick bounds exultant, and with rampant prow
Off flings the glittering foam. Around her wake,
A radiant milky way, the sea-birds weave
Their circling flight, or slowly sweeping wide
O'er boundless ocean, graze with drooping wing
The brightly-crested waves. Each sudden surge,
Up-dashed, appears a momentary tree

Fringed with the hoar frost of a wintry morn ;
And then, like blossoms from a breeze-stirred bough,
The light spray strews the deep.

How fitfully the struggling day-beams pierce
The veil of heaven!-On yon far line of light,
That like a range of breakers streaks the main,
The ocean swan-the snow-white Albatross,
Gleams like a dazzling foam-flake in the sun!
Gaze upward-and behold, where parted clouds
Disclose ethereal depths, its dark-hued mate
Hangs motionless on arch-resembling wings,
As though 'twere painted on the sky's blue vault.

Sprinkling the air, the speck-like petrels form
A living shower! Awhile their pinions gray

Mingle scarce-seen among the misty clouds,

Till suddenly their white breasts catch the light,

And flash like silver stars!

II.

[A STORM AT NIGHT.]

Yon cloud-arch spreads,-the black waves curl and foam
Beneath the coming tempest ;-Lo! 'tis here!

The fierce insatiate winds, like demons, howl
Around the labouring bark. Her snow-white sails,
Outspread like wings of some gigantic bird

Struck with dismay, are fluttering in the gale,

And sound like far-off thunder. Now the heart

Of ocean quails to its profoundest depths;

The dark heavens groan,-the wildly scattered clouds,
Like routed hosts, are thickly hurrying past
The dim-discovered stars. Up lofty hills,
Or down wide-yawning vales, the lone ship drives
As if to swift destruction. Still she braves,
Though rudely buffetted by tempest-fiends,
The elemental war. Ah! that dread wave,
As though some huge sea-monster dealt the blow,
Hath made her start and tremble !-Yet again,
For one hushed moment, with recovered power,
She proudly glides in majesty serene,

Calm as a silver cloud on summer skies,

Or yon pale moon amid the strife of heaven!

How terrible, yet glorious is the scene!

How swells the gazer's heart!-The mighty main
Heaves its stupendous mountains to the sky,
Their sides unruffled by the fretful waves
Of less terrific seas. The billows form
Moving Atlantic Alps, whose peaks alone

D

Are shattered by the wind that hurls the foam
Adown the dreary vales. In wintry realms
The viewless pinions of the northern breeze,
Thus shake the snow-wreaths from the hoary heads
Of everlasting hills!

An awful pause !—

Again the quick-reviving tempest roars

With fiercer rage!-These changes image well
The sullen calm of comfortless despair,

The restless tumult of the guilty heart!

III.

[A CALM AT MID-DAY.]

Now in the fervid noon the smooth bright sea
Heaves slowly, for the wandering winds are dead
That stirred it into foam. The lonely ship
Rolls wearily, and idly flap the sails

Against the creaking mast. The lightest sound
Is lost not on the ear, and things minute

Attract the observant eye.

The scaly tribe,

Bright-winged, that upward flash from torrid seas, Like startled birds, now burst their glassy caves, And glitter in the sun; while diamond drops

From off their briny pinions fall like rain,

And leave a dimpled track.

The horizon clouds

Are motionless, and yield fantastic forms

Of antique towers, vast woods and frozen lakes,
Huge rampant beasts, and giant phantoms seen
In wildering visions only.

High o'er head,

Dazzling the sight, hangs, quivering like a lark, The silver Tropic-bird;-at length it flits

Far in cerulean depths and disappears,

Save for a moment, when with fitful gleam

It waves its wings in light. The pale thin moon,
Her crescent floating on the azure air,

Shows like a white bark sleeping on the main
When not a ripple stirs. Yon bright clouds form,
(Ridged as the ocean sands, with spots of blue,
Like water left by the receding tide,)
A fair celestial shore!-How beautiful!
The spirit of eternal peace hath thrown
A spell upon the scene! The wide blue floor
Of the Atlantic world-a sky-girt plain-
Now looks as never more the Tempest's tread
Would break its shining surface; and the ship
Seems destined ne'er again to brave the gale,
Anchored for ever on the silent deep!

IV.

[SUN-RISE.]

The stars have melted in the morning air,—

The white moon waneth dim.-The glorious sun,
Slow-rising from the cold cerulean main,

Now shoots through broken clouds his upward beams,

That kindle into day. At length his orb,

Reddening the ocean verge, with sudden blaze
Awakes a smiling world ;-the dull gray mist

Is scattered, and the sea-view opens wide!

The glassy waves

Are touched with joy, and dance in sparkling throngs

Around the gallant bark. The roseate clouds

Rest on the warm horizon,-like far hills

Their radiant outlines gleam in yellow light,

And o'er their shadowy range a thin scud floats,
Like wreaths of smoke from far-off beacon-fires.

The deep blue vault is streaked with golden bars,
Like veins in wealthy mines; and where the rays
Of Day's refulgent orb are lost in air,

In small round masses shine the fleecy clouds,

As bright as snow-clad bowers when sudden gleams
Flash on the frozen earth.

Ascending high

The gorgeous steps of heaven, the dazzling sun
Contracts his disk, and rapidly assumes

A silver radiance-glittering like a globe
Of diamond spars!

V.

[SUN-SET.]

Now near the flushed horizon brightly glows

The red dilated sun.

Around his path

Aerial phantoms float in liquid light,

And steeped in beauty, momently present

Fresh forms, and strange varieties of hue,
As fair and fleeting as our early dreams!—
Behold him rest on yon cloud-mountain's peak,-
Touched with celestial fire, volcano-like,
The dazzling summit burns;-eruptive flames
Of molten gold with ruddy lustre tinge

The western heavens, and shine with mellowed light
Through the transparent crests of countless waves!

The scene is changed-behind the ethereal mount
Now fringed with light-the day-god downward speeds
His unseen way;-yet where his kindling steps

Lit the blue vault, the radiant trace remains,