"In Extremis"

Till dawn the winds' insuperable throng
passed over like archangels in their might,
with roar of chariots from their stormy height,
and broken thunder of mysterious song-
by mariner or sentry heard along
the star-usurping battlements of night-
and wafture of immeasurable flight,
and high-blown trumpets mutinous and strong.
Till louder on the dreadful dark I heard
the shrieking of the tempest-tortured tree,
and deeper on immensity the call
and tumult of the empire-forging sea;
but near the eternal Peace I lay, nor stirred,
knowing the happy dead hear not at all.