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And he did hear its wild alluring call,

Into its mystic rest at once to leap,

A rest beneath the billows’ angry sound.

And now the elements did more and more

Unstop their many-voiced organ-keys:

The thunder’s loud diapason, the shriek

Of wailing wind, the flopping and the creak

Of rigging; and the rain upon the seas,

The lightning’s hiss and surging water’s roar.

But all of this his heart enjoyed with glee,

And he refused to leave his lonely post,

Though drenched, and clinging to the vessel’s railing,

A good old ship, though sorely tried, yet sailing,

It was her sturdy captain’s boast,

That she could weather even the roughest sea.

Sordino heard in all the symphony

Of nature’s stormy mood, the misery

And rage pent up in her great heart, like his,

Thus all its terror was to him a bliss,

He heard in it majestic melody,

Since all God’s universe is harmony.

The wind grew chilly and at last him drove

Into the hold, where slumber soon him claimed;

And when the morning dawned, the ship was near