194 LIFE I A SKETCH. 



* * * * A brief inquiry past 



" But there were three/' he said, " and where are they ?' 



His foot was in the stirrup as the last 



Words roused again the mourner. " In the bay, 



And the next tide will land them as it may." 



He turned his horse a hand upon his rein 

 Was laid ; the other pointed to a speck 

 That, toss'd upon the billow, seem'd to gain 

 The shore by slow degrees it was the wreck 

 Of a once noble creature ; as again 

 It reach'd the land, unconscious now of pain 

 A moment, and his mate was at its side, 

 Brothers in danger, brothers too in death ; 

 And as they perish'd in the tempest's wrath, 

 A pang more bitter than the whelming wave 

 Was for the friend each loved, but could not save. 



And they now lay upon the sands ; the tide 

 Gleaming beneath the faint and watery ray, 

 That breaks the clouds of winter's cheerless day, 

 In cruel mockery burst upon them ; there 

 Lay quieted in death the dauntless breast. 

 I gazed upon the dripping matted hair, 

 The pallid cheek, the cold blue lips ; the chest 

 Broad, muscular, and sinewy, was bare ; 

 And there was blood upon the livid brow; 

 While the sunk eye, the bloodless hand and arm, 

 Form'd a sad contrast, that as by a charm 

 Fix'd the spectator, tho' his blood ran slow, 

 And curdled in his veins. * * * * 

 And this is life. 



