I STAND beside the waves,--the mournful waves,-- <br />Where thou didst stand in silence and in fear, <br />For thou wert train'd by custom's haughty slaves, <br />And love, from such as I, disdain'd to hear; <br />Yet, with the murmur of the echoing sea, <br />And the monotonous billows, rolling on, <br />Were mingled sounds of weeping,--for in thee <br />All nature was not harden'd into stone: <br />And from the shore there came a distant chime <br />From the old village-clock;--ah! since that day, <br />Like a dull passing-bell each stroke of time <br />Falls on my heart; and in the ocean spray <br />A voice of lamentation seems to dwell, <br />As in that bitter hour of agonised farewell!<br /><br />Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-xii-7/
