The gusty east wind blows amain,
The fog banks settle o'er the watery plain;
Great clouds, like shadows, weigh upon the deep,
Or fast, like battle frigate's sweep.
'Til all the curling summits of the foam
As whitely o'er the vapory seas they comb,
Fade in the^rey immensity of space,
'Til billows in their never-ending race
Are blotted from the sight.
Fair blows the eastern breeze!
Instant the sunbeam glitters o'er the seas.
Aside the hovering shadow drifts,
Upward the vapory curtain lifts.
Like routed files, like conquer'd ranks
Of armies, broken on their flanks,
And fleeing madly in retreat
Before the pursuer's hurried feet,
So fly the dark and rainy shades,
As fast the shining light invades.
Far as the gazing eye can strain
The broad, the blue, illimitable main
Stretches its vast eternal plain,
To the horizon's edge;
Across its liquid hills and vales,
Far travers'd by the ghostly sails,
Across its foamy-crested waves
That comb above the watery caves
Across the tumbling breakers tost,
O'er the low-lying reach of coast,
O'er curving cove and limpid bay
The bright, rejoicing sunbeams play
And flush with soft and roeseate glow
Old ocean's ebb and flow.
Now sinks the sun behind the hills,
Night with her glooms the landscape fills,
Unseen the billows heave and break,
Unseen the voyaging vessels take
Their lonesome way in gloom profound
Afar on lonely wanderings bound.
Far to the west, Fire Island Light,
A spark, gleams out upon the night;
Far to the east Montauk illumes
With trembling ray the ocean glooms,
While near the lanterns of Pon Quogue
Brighten the ocean's hazy fog,
'Til deep and dim o'er billow crests
The mantle of the midnight rests.