I felt the strong arms draw me in:
If after death to heaven I win,
'Twill be such joy as this!

'No kiss, no smile, but aye that clasp--
Tender, and close, and brave;
While, like a tortured thing, upleapt
The boat, and o'er her deck there swept
Wave thundering after wave.

'I looked not to the stormy deep,
Nor to the angry sky;
Whether for life or death we wrought,
My whole world dwindled to one thought--
_Where he is, there am I_!

'On--on--through leaping waves, slow calmed,
With salt spray on our hair,
And breezes singing in the sail,
Before a safe and pleasant gale,
The boat went bounding fair:

'But whether to a shore we came,
Or seaward sailed away,
Alas! to me is all unknown:
O happy dream, too quickly flown!
O cruel, cruel day!'

Pale Helen lived--or died: dull time
O'er all that history rolls;