FRAGMENT.—A PICTURE.

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BY WM. ALBERT SUTLIFFE.

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Calm was the wave; such stillness up in Heaven

Heralds the voicefulness of Deity,—

Or such, on earth, o’erstoops a placid mere,

Mountained all round, and sentineled of woods,

And citadeled of tafted islets green.

A bark lay on the deep; and from the shore

Fled back rude-climbing slopes, high-terminate

In snow and clustering cloud, and the hills stared

With a dry burning smile up zenith-ward,

Into the broad blue quiet of the sky:

Quiet the sea-kissed shore—noiseless the hills—

All soothed the Titan pulses of the deep—

And the huge-breathing winds were caverned all,

Moveless, and murmurless, as somewhere near

Some god were chambered, pillowed in sweet rest.

A bark was on the deep; and some few men,

Plain-garbed, and bronzed by life-expending toil,

Looked steadily down into the unwinking main,

And saw themselves look up—and nothing more.