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

---

[239] O Rivermouth Rocks, how sad a sight
     Ye saw in the light of breaking day!
Dead faces looking up cold and white
     From sand and seaweed where they lay.
The mad old witch-wife wailed and wept,
     And cursed the tide as it backward crept:
“Crawl back, crawl back, blue water-snake!
     Leave your dead for the hearts that break!”

Solemn it was in that old day
     In Hampton town and its log-built church,
Where side by side the coffins lay
     And the mourners stood in aisle and porch.
In the singing-seats young eyes were dim,
     The voices faltered that raised the hymn,
And Father Dalton, grave and stern,
     Sobbed through his prayer and wept in turn.

But his ancient colleague did not pray;
     Under the weight of his fourscore years
He stood apart with the iron-gray
     Of his strong brows knitted to hide his tears;
And a fair-faced woman of doubtful fame,
     Linking her own with his honored name,
Subtle as sin, at his side withstood
     The felt reproach of her neighborhood.

Apart with them, like them forbid,
     Old Goody Cole looked drearily round,
As, two by two, with their faces hid,
     The mourners walked to the burying-ground.
She let the staff from her clasped hands fall:
     ‘Lord, forgive us! we're sinners all!’