The moon shone calmly bright
Upon the slumb'ring scene,
Ten thousand stars shone out that night,
Around their placid queen;
A ship hath left the shore,--
Where shall that good ship be,
Ere fill the moon one bright horn more?--
Deep--deep in the booming sea.
"Hark!--heard ye not, but now,
A wild unearthly cry,"
They ask with troubled breast and brow,
And startled ear and eye--
"Was't the water-spirit's shriek?
What may the boding be?"
And a moment blanch'd the brownest cheek,
On the deep and booming sea.
"What fear?--the breeze to night
Can scarce a ripple wake,
And slow moves our ship with her wings of white,
Like a swan o'er a moonlit lake!"
Ah! little dreamt they then
The change so soon to be,
And arose the songs of jovial men
On the deep and booming sea!
'Tis morn--but such a morn
May bark ne'er brave again,
Through vaulting billows--tempest-torn,
Toils the reeling ship in vain!
The waves are hushed and blue,
But where--oh! where is she,
The good ship with her gallant crew?
Deep--down in the booming sea!
