Sappho and Phaon: Sonnet XXII

Wild is the foaming sea ! the surges roar !
And nimbly dart the livid lightnings round !
On the rent rock the angry waves rebound ;
Ah me ! the lessening bark is seen no more !
Along the margin of the trembling shore,
Loud as the blast my frantic cries shall sound,
My storm-drench'd limbs the flinty fragments wound,
And o'er my bleeding breast the billows pour !
Phaon ! return! ye winds, O! waft the strain
To his swift bark ; ye barb'rous waves, forbear !
Taunt not the anguish of a lover's brain,
Nor feebly emulate the soul's despair !
For howling winds, and foaming seas in vain
Assail the breast when passion rages there !