She leaned on a youthful stranger's arm —

A tall and silent one —
Who stood in the very midst of the crowd

Yet uttered a word to none ;
He gazed on the sea and the waiting shipi

But he gazed on them alone !

The fair girl leaned on the stranger's arm,

And she wept as one in fear,
But he heeded not the plaintive moan

And the dropping of the tear ;
His eye was fixed on the stirring sea,

Cold, darkly and severe !

The boat was filled — the shore was left —

The farewell word was said —
But the vast crowd lingered still behind

With an overpowering dread ;
They feared that stranger and his bride,

So pale and like the dead.
And many said that an evil pair
Among their friends had gone,—

A demon with his human prey,
From the quiet graveyard drawn ;

And a prayer was heard that the innocent
Might escape the Evil One.
WHITTISR'S I>OEMS. ,271

Away — the good ship sped away,

Out on the broad high seas,
The sun upon her path before —

Behind, the steady breeze —
AjiJ Acre, was nought in sea or sky

Of fearfui auguries.
The day passed on— A® sunlight fell

All slantwise from the west,
And then the heavy cloud of storm

Sat on the ocean's breast ;
And every swelling billow mourn'tf

Like a living thing distressed.
The sun went down among the cJ'Du^^
Tinging with sudden goW^ '

The pall-like shadow of tJ'.e storm,
On every mighty fold —

And then theligKcting's eye look'd fort'.
And the red thunder rolled.
