Sunrise on the Sea-Coast

It was the holy hour of dawn:
By hands invisible withdrawn,
The curtain of the summer night
Had vanished; and the morning light,
Fresh from its hidden day-springs, threw
Increasing glory up the blue.
Oh sacred balm of summer dawn,
When odors from the new-mown lawn
Blend with the breath of sky and sea;
And, like the prayers of sanctity,
Go up to Him who reigns above,
An incense-offering of love!
Alone upon a rock I stood,
Far out above the ocean-flood,
Whose vast expanse before me lay,
Now silver-white, now leaden-gray,
As o'er its face, alternate, threw
The rays and clouds their varying hue.
I felt a deep, expectant hush
Through nature, as the growing flush
Of the red Orient seemed to tell
The approach of some great spectacle,
O'er which the birds, in heaven's far height,
Hung, as entranced, in mute delight.
But when the Sun, in royal state,
Through his triumphal golden gate,
Came riding forth in majesty
Out from the flecked eastern sky,
As comes a conqueror to his tent;
And, up and down the firmament,
The captive clouds of routed night,
Their garments fringed with golden light,
Bending around the azure arch,
Lent glory to the victor's march;
And when he flung his blazing glance
Across the watery expanse, —
Methought, along that rocky coast,
The foaming waves, a crested host,
As on their snowy plumes the beams
Of sunshine fell in dazzling gleams,
Thrilled through their ranks with wild delight,
And clapped their hands to hail the sight,
And sent a mighty shout on high
Of exultation to the sky.
Now all creation seemed to wake;
Each little leaf with joy did shake;
The trumpet-signal of the breeze
Stirred all the ripples of the seas —
Each in its gambols and its glee
A living creature seemed to be;
Like wild young steeds with snowy mane,
The white waves skimmed the liquid plain;
Glad Ocean, with ten thousand eyes,
Proclaimed its joy to earth and skies;
From earth and skies a countless throng
Of happy creatures swelled the song;
Praise to the Conquerer of night!
Praise to the King of Life and Light!