BESIDE the coast for many a rood
Were fragments of a shipwreck strewn;
And there in sad and sombre mood
I walked the sands alone.
Torn bales and broken boxes lay,
Heaped high 'mid shattered sails and spar,
While grimly down the moonlit bay
The wrecked hull gleamed from far.
Well had the storm its mission wrought,
With thunder crash and billowy roar;
For not one precious waif was brought
Safe to the rugged shore.
Yet stay! what tiny sparkling thing
Shines faintly in the moonbeams cold?
I stooped, and wondering, grasped a ring,
A fairy ring of gold.
Of great and small, of rich and rare,
Of all yon stranded vessel bore,
Only this gem the waves would spare
To cast unharmed ashore.
With what a deep and tender thrill
I put the modest gem away,
And while the silvery vapors chill
Crept ghost-like up the bay,
I dreamed of shivering human lives
Wrecked on Fate's cold and cruel lee,
Trusting that some small hope survives,
Spared to them from the sea!
