Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton

Here you will find the Poem Sonnet XII of poet Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton

Sonnet XII

I STAND beside the waves,--the mournful waves,-- 
Where thou didst stand in silence and in fear, 
For thou wert train'd by custom's haughty slaves, 
And love, from such as I, disdain'd to hear; 
Yet, with the murmur of the echoing sea, 
And the monotonous billows, rolling on, 
Were mingled sounds of weeping,--for in thee 
All nature was not harden'd into stone: 
And from the shore there came a distant chime 
From the old village-clock;--ah! since that day, 
Like a dull passing-bell each stroke of time 
Falls on my heart; and in the ocean spray 
A voice of lamentation seems to dwell, 
As in that bitter hour of agonised farewell!