Songs of Sea and Sail

<h2>EXECUTION ROCK LIGHT.</h2> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Out on its knoll of granite gray,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Old Execution rears its ghostly shaft,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And thro' the night and thro' the day</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Speaks cheer to passing craft;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">While in the sun they see it gleam</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Upon the horizon, miles afar,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And in the dark its changeful beam</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Flames out a guiding star.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">From year to year, thro' calm and gale,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Across the Sound its warning flare is cast</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">It cries "All's well!" to steam and sail</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And guides them safely past.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">One day it hides its form in haze</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And seems to sentinel some mystic strand;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The next, it glories in the blaze</span><br/> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</SPAN></span></p> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Of morning's crimson brand.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And now across the stormy tide</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">It spires against the sandy bluff, and shows</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">The front of one who will abide</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">The shock of lusty blows.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Along its reef the surges roll,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And white with repulse rise and fling their froth</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Like snow across the rocky knoll,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Then burst in foamy wrath.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And there it stands, fearless, sedate,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Like some brave knight who scorns to couch his lance</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Against the churls, but with his weight</span><br/> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</SPAN></span></p> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Bears back their wild advance.</span><br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />