Though thou did'st hear the tempest from afar, <br />And felt'st the horrors of the wat'ry war, <br />To me unknown, yet on this peaceful shore <br />Methinks I hear the storm tumultuous roar, <br />And how stern Boreas with impetuous hand <br />Compell'd they Nereids to usurp the land. <br />Reluctant rose the daughters of the main, <br />And slow ascending glided o'er the plain, <br />Till Æolus in his rapid chariot drove <br />In gloomy grandeur from the vault above: <br />Furious he comes. His winged sons obey <br />Their frantic sire, and madden all the sea. <br />The billows rave, the wind's fierce tyrant roars, <br />And with his thund'ring terrors shakes the shores: <br />Broken by waves the vessel's frame is rent, <br />And strows with planks the wat'ry element. <br /> But thee, Maria, a kind Nereid's shield <br />Preserv'd from sinking, and thy form upheld: <br />And sure some heav'nly oracle design'd <br />At that dread crisis to instruct thy mind <br />Things of eternal consequence to weigh, <br />And to thine heart just feelings to convey <br />Of things above, and of the future doom, <br />And what the births of the dread world to come. <br /> <br /> From tossing seas I welcome thee to land. <br />"Resign her, Nereid," 'twas thy God's command. <br />Thy spouse late buried, as thy fears conceiv'd, <br />Again returns, thy fears are all reliev'd: <br />Thy daughter blooming with superior grace <br />Again thou see'st, again thine arms embrace; <br />O come, and joyful show thy spouse his heir, <br />And what the blessings of maternal care!<br /><br />Phillis Wheatley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-a-lady-on-her-remarkable-preservation/
