Farewell, thou free, all — conquering sea!
No more wilt thou before me roll
In endless flow thy dark-blue billows
And revel in thy beauty proud.
Like mournful voice of friend departing.
Like summons sad to bid adieu,
Thy murmur soft from region far
I hearken, but shall hear no more.
For thou hast been ray soul’s desired bound,
As oft along thy pebbly shore
With slow and measured step I wandered,
And gladly lost in thoughts mine own.
How I have loved thy mystic echoes;
Dull sounds, a voice from the abyss;
In evening hour, thy peaceful ripple
Thy wayward bursts of sudden rage!
In fragile boat the fisher sailing
Thou lovst to shield from wave’s caprice,
And safe it skims o’er surging breakers;
But with unconquered strength wilt rise,
And vessel proud to pieces dash.
Too long, a willing slave, I have served,
Removed from thee, a sordid world;
Too long forgot with song to greet thee,
And o’er thy crested waves to waft
My verse sonorous and sincere.
‘Thou didst wait, thou didst call, but a spell
My vainly struggling soul subdued;
Enchanted by a mighty passion,
I still remained from thee estranged.
But why complain? Whither now should I
My vain and aimless steps direct?
O’er thy realms of waste but one small spot
Can speak to me or stir my soul:
A tiny rock, the glorious grave
And haunt of dreams of power lost,
Remembrance bare of fallen greatness,
Where raging pined Napoleon.
‘T was there he died, slow torture s victim,
And now we mourn a loss as great:
For ever hushed the song of tempest,
That crowned him lord of soul of man.
He died bewept by freedom’s children,
Bequeathing them his deathless crown.
Weep, ocean, weep, shed tny stormy tears!
His sweetest songs he sang to thee.
For on his brow was stamped thine image,
He, as it were, was child of thee;
Like thee, sublime, fathomless, alone;
Like thee, unconquered. unsubdued!
The world is dull and empty — And now,
Whither, ocean, wouldst thou bring me?
Where’er man flies, his fate ne’er changes;
And should he sip the cup of joy,
Some tyrant’s hand will dash it down.
Once more, farewell! And I thy beauty
And charms sublime shall ne’er forget;
And long, long shall, trembling, hear at night
The echo of thy mighty roar.
To forest shade, or the silent plain,
I ne’er shall bring a thought, save thine;
See thy cliffs, thy gleam, thy yawning gulfs,
And hear the chatter of thy waves.