| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
| |
| 1634. By the Pacific |
| | | By Herbert Bashford |
| |
| |
| FROM this quaint cabin window I can see | |
| The strange, vague line of ghostly drift-wood, though | |
| No ray of silver moon or soft star-glow | |
| Steals through the summer night’s solemnity. | |
| Pale forms drive landward and wild figures flee | 5 |
| Like spectres up the shore; I hear the slow, | |
| Firm tread of marching billows which I know | |
| Will walk beside the years that are to be. | |
| Sweet, gentle sleep is banished from mine eyes; | |
| I lie and think of wrecks until the sobs | 10 |
| And groans of drowning sailors, lost at sea, | |
| Come mingled with the gray gulls’ plaintive cries | |
| And those tumultuous, incessant throbs— | |
| The heavy heart-beats of Eternity. | |
| |
|
|
|
