The Lambertville press. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1858-1???, 1859-10-27
d. D. Blackwell, Publisher.
guet' 81 o . (
The Midnight Wreck.

From the harbor, richly laden,
Sailed the gallant ship;
Twas precious freight she carried,
Father mother, youth and maiden,
Wife and husband, newly married,
Watch her cable slip;
And upon her deck they tarried, . IS
While the land they left was fading,
Some their eager eyes are shading
From the morning sun,
As away they glide;
Now the waters heaye and glitter,
And now many a one
Leaning DER the vessels side,
Seems to watch, but droppeth bitter
Tears into the tide.
We shall know our sad emotion,
To the JOY of all creation,
Was tear-drop to an ocean
Ere midnight, the wind had shifted,
Rising to gale;
Backward, on her course she dritted,
Needing not the helm
Now on giant waves uplifted.
Threat'ning to o'erwhelm;
Now adown vale
OF dark angry waters driven,
While, like spirits chased from heaven.
Loud the wild winds wall,
None that night had sought a pillow,
Still the deck they crowd;
While to each successive billow
The tall mast is bowed.
Hoarser sounds now meet their hearing
Tis the breakers roar;
And the hapless bark is nearing
Fast the fatal shore.
-~-s A shock
She has struck the sunken rock,
And her lofty hull is shattered,
All her wealth must now be scattered
On the raging waves.
All p! but she was richly laden,
And the precious freight she carried,
Father, mother, youth and maiden,
Bride and bridegroom newly married.
These must find their graves,
In the darkness near each other,
Clinging close by friend and brother
And the tender nurseing mother
With her babe is there.
Some with hearts for terror falling;
Some with shrieking; some with wailng
Some with faith and prayer,
Some with noble self-devotion,
Sitting their own wild emotion,
Seek to calm despair.
On the waves again uplifted,
Now her giant hullis lifted,
On the sharp rock driven;
On the beach the white foam streameth-
Now no hope On earth there seemeth,
And no hope in heaven,
One small boat is filled,
And amid the surges rolling,
Through the darkness men are failing
Strong and bravely skilled,
On the strand the boat doth shiver
Few are saved-it may be never
known hew many lost.
Lost forever! lost forever!
What mighty cost ss
All the saved shall stand tomorrow,
With the dawn in awful sorrow,
On the wreck-stewn shore
None who hath not lost another,
Child or parent, friend or brother,
Than his soul loved more.
Does the sea deplore its doing
Are the waves their wild work rueing
With a mighty sorrow swelling
Seems the oceans breast;
While its mournful voice seems telling
Thus "no rest no rest ~
What, though at the contamination
We shall know our sad emotion.
To the JOY of all creation
Is tear-drop in an ocean
Wherefore all this wreck and ruin,
Benefcent? ~
And is thine eternity fzsrl,.
Like this great and boundless sea,
To DER whelm us meant
Shall a few be safely landed
Onthe eternal shore?
And countless number stranded
Where thy breakers roar!
All i? methinks the saved 4a
Few without one friend or other,
Child or parent, wife or brother,
q 'Mong that awful host--
Evermore the glory scorning,
On that shore would wander mourning
Seeking for the lost.
From Mss CrdiQ's Poems.