The Storm Poem by Alcaeus of Mytilene

Now here, now there, the wild waves sweep,
Whilst we, betwixt them o'er the deep,
In shatter'd tempest-beaten bark,
With laboring ropes are onward driven,
The billows dashing o'er our dark
Upheaved deck--in tatters riven
Our sails--whose yawning rents between
The raging sea and sky are seen.

. . . . .

Loose from their hold our anchors burst,
And then the third, the fatal wave
Comes rolling onward like the first,
And doubles all our toil to save.