Page:Poems Kimball.djvu/261

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A VIGIL.
DARK shore, and desolate sky
Unquickened by a star;
Sad sea where wandering sails are lost
   In night afar!

No human presence sweet,
Nor other sound beside
Save that to silence near akin—
   The ebbing tide.

Only a lonely wreck
High on the lonely beach,
Whose hopelessness defies at last
   The breaker's reach.

O Earth that keeps no watch,
O Heaven that lights no star,
He is who cares for every sail,
   Each broken spar!

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