The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 4.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[92]
     White in the moon, we saw the long waves fall
Baffled and broken from the rocky wall,
     That, to the menace of the brawling flood,
Opposed alone its massive quietude,
     Calm as a fate; with not a leaf nor vine
Nor birch-spray trembling in the still moonshine,
     Crowning it like God's peace. I sometimes think
That night-scene by the sea prophetical,
     (For Nature speaks in symbols and in signs,
And through her pictures human fate divines),
     That rock, wherefrom we saw the billows sink
In murmuring rout, uprising clear and tall
     In the white light of heaven, the type of one
Who, momently by Error's host assailed,
     Stands strong as Truth, in greaves of granite mailed;
And, tranquil-fronted, listening over all
     The tumult, hears the angels say, Well done!

1854.