'Ah me, my dream!' pale Helen cried,
With hectic cheeks aglow:
'Why wake me? Hide that cruel beam!
I'll not win such another dream
On this side heaven, I know.
'I almost feel the leaping waves,
The wet spray on my hair,
The salt breeze singing in the sail,
The kind arms, strong as iron-mail,
That held me safely there.
'I'll tell thee:--On some shore I stood,
Or sea, or inland bay,
Or river broad, I know not--save
There seemed no boundary to the wave
That chafed and moaned alway.
'The shore was lone--the wave was lone--
The horizon lone; no sail
Broke the dim line 'twixt sea and sky,
Till slowly, slowly one came by,
Half ghostlike, gray and pale.
'It was a very little boat,
Had neither oars nor crew;
But as it shoreward bounded fast,
One form seemed leaning by the mast--
And Norman's face I knew!
'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.