Page:Poems by Ingelow, Jean.djvu/188

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The High Tide.
Then bankes came downe with ruin and rout—Then beaten foam flew round about—Then all the mighty floods were out.
So farre, so fast the eygre drave,The heart had hardly time to beatBefore a shallow seething waveSobbed in the grasses at oure feet:The feet had hardly time to fleeBefore it brake against the knee,And all the world was in the sea.
Upon the roofe we sate that night,The noise of bells went sweeping byI marked the lofty beacon lightStream from the church tower, red and high—A lurid mark and dread to see;And awsome bells they were to meeThat in the dark rang 'Enderby.'
They rang the sailor lads to guideFrom roofe to roofe who fearless rowed;And I—my sonne was at my side,And yet the ruddy beacon glowed:And yet he moaned beneath his breath,'O come in life, or come in death!O lost! my love, Elizabeth.'
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