In Extremis

Till dawn the Winds' insuperable throng
Passed over like archangels in their might,
With roar of chariots from their stormy height,
And broken thunder of mysterious song —
By mariner or sentry heard along
The star-usurping battlements of night —
And wafture of immeasurable flight,
And high-blown trumpets mutinous and strong.

Till louder on the dreadful dark I heard
The shrieking of the tempest-tortured tree,
And deeper on immensity the call
And tumult of the empire-forging sea;
But near the eternal Peace I lay, nor stirred,
Knowing the happy dead hear not at all.