Overlooking The Gulf At Fort Morgan Poem by Jean Mallette

Oh, hear the wailing of the sea!
How mournful is her ceaseless cry;
How wistful is her constant plea,
'Bring back-bring back the past to me! '
Oh, hear the sorrow-burdened 'Why? '
To which but silence yields reply.
Hear how she sweeps the ocean floor
Through darkness to the fortress side-
To where those solemn days of yore
Shall see her tread their path no more.
For now that fated past has died;
This soil-this dust-is now a grave!
To sense no more the coming tide;
To feel no more her steady stride.
And deep within are lain the brave;
Who now shall mourn them but the sea?
Who now shall stroke them but the wave
Whose mighty hand no more can save
The past from what it's come to be?

Arise! , o' sea, from out thy grief;
Bear forth a new song unto me,
For I do live, and living see
That Life is never cleft so brief-
That though it fleeteth from the shore
Within the grasp of some known thief,
It comes again to know relief
In brighter climes than e'er before.
So search these hollow depths no more;
Nought lies beyond that fortress door;
Lift high thy proud and mighty roar-
Sing psalms of Life forever more!