THE god looked out upon the troubled deep Waked into tumult from its placid sleep; The flame of anger kindles in his eye As the wild waves ascend the lowering sky; He lifts his head above their awful height And to the distant fleet directs his sight, Now borne aloft upon the billow's crest, Struck by the bolt or by the winds oppressed, And well he knew that Juno's vengeful ire Frowned from those clouds and sparkled in that fire. On rapid pinions as they whistled by He calls swift Zephyrus and Eurus nigh: Is this your glory in a noble line To leave your confines and to ravage mine? Whom I -- but let these troubled waves subside -- Another tempest and I'll quell your pride! Go -- bear our message to your master's ear, That wide as ocean I am despot here; Let him sit monarch in his barren caves, I wield the trident and control the waves! He said, and as the gathered vapors break The swelling ocean seemed a peaceful lake; To lift their ships the graceful nymphs essayed And the strong trident lent its powerful aid; The dangerous banks are sunk beneath the main, And the light chariot skims the unruffled plain. As when sedition fires the public mind, And maddening fury leads the rabble blind, The blazing torch lights up the dread alarm, Rage points the steel and fury nerves the arm, Then, if some reverend sage appear in sight, They stand -- they gaze, and check their headlong flight, -- He turns the current of each wandering breast And hushes every passion into rest, -- Thus by the power of his imperial arm The boiling ocean trembled into calm; With flowing reins the father sped his way And smiled serene upon rekindled day. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NIGHT AND DAY: 2 by ISAAC ROSENBERG A CLEVER WOMAN by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE FAST ANCHOR'D ETERNAL O LOVE! by WALT WHITMAN ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 2. ON THE WINTER SOLSTICE, 1740 by MARK AKENSIDE HAREBELLS by ANNE MILLAY BREMER THE FORCED RECRUIT AT SOLFERINO by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |