Oh, linger in thy flight!
For shadows gather round, and should we part,
A dreary starless night
May fill my heart,--
Then pause and linger yet ere thou depart.

Linger, I ask no more,--
Thou art enough for ever--thou alone;
What future can restore,
When thou art flown,
All that I hold from thee and call my own?




VERSE: HOMEWARD BOUND


I have seen a fiercer tempest,
Known a louder whirlwind blow;
I was wrecked off red Algiers,
Six-and-thirty years ago.
Young I was, and yet old seamen
Were not strong or calm as I;
While life held such treasures for me,
I felt sure I could not die.

Life I struggled for--and saved it;
Life alone--and nothing more;
Bruised, half dead, alone and helpless,