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,
H E is who cares for every sail,
Each broken spar!