UPON a barren steep, Above a stormy deep, I saw an angel watching the wild sea; Earth was that barren steep, Time was that stormy deep, And the opposing shore, eternity! "Why dost thou watch the wave? Thy feet the waters lave; The tide ingulfs thee if thou dost delay." "Unscath'd I watch the wave, Time not the angels' grave, I wait until the ocean ebbs away!" Hush'd on the angel's breast, I saw an infant rest, Smiling upon the gloomy hell below. "What is the infant prest, O angel, to thy breast?" "The child God gave me in the long-ago? "Mine all upon the earth -- The angel's angel-birth, Smiling all terror from the howling wild!" -- Never may I forget The dream that haunts me yet, Of Patience nursing Hope -- the angel and the child! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 21 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING ASOLANDO: EPILOGUE by ROBERT BROWNING THE CANONIZATION by JOHN DONNE THE TIDE OF FAITH by MARY ANN EVANS THE BROKEN FIELD by SARA TEASDALE WHITE HEAD by ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN |