THE WRECK.

    “When the steamer HOME was wrecked upon the beach at Ocracoke, N.C., they rang the bell incessantly until she went to pieces on the breakers; and that melancholy sound was heard at a distance, above the noise of the waves.”

     Hark! hark to the knell
     Of that wild-voiced bell,
That rings o’er the surging waves,
     Each tone doth sweep
     O’er the troubled deep,

Like a voice from the seamen’s graves!

     While borne to the shore,
     Is the breakers’ roar,
And the elements’ wild halloo,
     The dismal sound

     Of its voice hath drowned
The shouts of the struggling crew.

     Swiftly the wreck,
     Like a stricken speck
On the wild upheaving main,

     Sinks through the deep, [Page 158]
     With a sudden sweep,
Like a pang through a tyrant’s brain.

     But the last wild sound
     On that deep profound,

Heard high o’er the winds and waves,
     Is the startling knell
     Of that loud-voiced bell,
Passing down to the seamen’s graves.

     And each struggling form

     In that fearful storm,
As he gasps for a parting breath,
     Feels a sudden thrill,
     As that warning shrill
Tolls him down to the Ship of Death.

     And so when the world
     From its place is hurled,
Like a speck will it pass away,
     And all ears shall hear,
     O’er the crash severe,

The knell of the Judgment Day. [Page 159]