The Rebel Deep

Unceasing thunders fill the cloudless air
   As impious, raging against God's "Thus Far,"
   The maniac Ocean gnaws his granite bar
And foams, and roars around his monstrous lair.
Like some wild beast he shakes his horrent hair,
   And at his trampling earth's foundations jar.
   Even as his own, man's oaken bubbles are
Swept with a breath to naught; and gurgled prayer
And hopeless curse are poured alike in vain,—
   The hungry Ocean will devour his prey;
   Then sleep and smile, as one that, tired of play,
Folds innocent palms and plays in dreams again.
   Sublimest Traitor! Type of God's great Foe!
   Splendid in every wile, thy changes come and go!