Midnight
On the stone write : ` Here lies my beloved sister , Blanche Holmes . ' '' An hour later John Stevens knelt beside a corpse . The gentle spirit had flown . Midnight -- and the castaway , despairing , half-crazed with grief , still knelt by the dead body , tearing his hair , and groaning : `` Alone -- left alone ! '' `` O gentle wind -LRB- 't is thus she sings -RRB- That blowest to the west , Oh , couldst thou waft me on thy wings To the land that I love best , How swiftly o'er the-ocean 's foam , Like a sea-bird I would sail . '' -- PRINGLE . When the heart is full , there seems some relief in pouring out the story of woe into a sympathetic ear ; but when one is alone , with no human being to listen or sympathize , grief is a hundredfold greater .