The air was dark, and damp, and chill,
And the lofty trees were swaying ;
And round and round the Haunted Hill
The scattered leaves were playing ;
The wild winds swept across the lea
Cold and damp from the gurgling sea,
And Oh ! how drear it seemed to me
This wild November morning.
The storm-king beat the sounding shore
With a heavy and pond'rous hammer ;
The bleak sky caught the sullen roar,
And shook with the awful clamor ;
And the wind rush'd by with a shriek and a cry
And tore the clouds in the frowning sky,
And piled them up in mountains high !
This wild November morning.
And out upon the surging bay,
A scbooner stood in the offing,
And at her struggles in the spray,
The howling winds were scoffing ;
Oh ! how the pelting snow and sleet
About her hull and rigging beat
It seemed to me her winding sheet,
This wild November morning.
A woman stood beside the rocks,
And gazed upon the ocean ;
The wild wind whipt her auburn locks,
And she wept with wild emotion.
She cried : ' My sailor true and brave
Is struggling now with the rolling wave ;
Will no one come to help and save,
This wild November morning?'
Her lover paced the swaying deck,
And waved the scarf she made him ;
While all about the creaking wreck
The winds and waves upbraid him.
' I see her boat upon the tide :
She comes to save,' he weeping cried,
' May God protect my darling bride,
This wild November morning.'
Straight as an arrow to its mark,
The little craft went speeding ;
Although the waves roll'd high and dark
'Though her little hands were bleeding,
She gained the wreck then back they go
Safe through the pelting sleet and snow ;
Two loving hearts are one I know
This wild November morningf.