Till the people, wondering, said,
"How like Cooke!"

Step by step did he proceed,
Nerved by valor, not by greed,
And at last the crowning deed
Undertook:

Misty was the midnight air,
And the cliff was bleak and bare,
When he came to do and dare
Just like Cooke.

Through the darkness, o'er the flow,
Stretched the line where he should go
Straight across, as flies the crow
Or the rook:

One wild glance around he cast;
Then he faced the ocean blast,
And he strode the cable last
Touched by Cooke.

Vainly roared the angry seas;
Vainly blew the ocean breeze;
But, alas! the walker's knees
Had a crook;

And before he reached the rock
Did they both together knock,