Hand in Hand/Overtaken
Overtaken
WHEN first the waters flowed across her path,
She quickened not at all her measured pace,
She deemed the summer sea but mimicked wrath,
And smiled to feel the sunshine in her face;
Her garment's hem raised from the glittering spray,
Nor ceased her song, nor faltered on her way.
But when the gathering wave, with sullen roar,
Broke at her foot, with sudden startled cry
She turned in haste to quit that fatal shore:
And ever as she strove in vain to fly,
Beneath her trembling steps the shifting sand
Sank as she stood between the sea and land.
What terror of the earth and sea and sky,
What threefold horror seized her as she stood!
What sickening sense of hopeless destiny,
As round her heart she felt the chilling flood!
Great God! to go down quick, among the dead,
The surging waves of deluge over-head!