To-night I saw the Merrimack
Go broadening, gleaming out to sea;—
The tide was low; a cloudy rack
Purple and crimson and sullen black
Drifted o'er main and lea;
And now in shadow and now in sun,
But placid and still as befitted one
Whose life would be ended when day was done,—
With a breeze from the north above it blowing
And the strength of the hills in its silent flowing,
Past the pines of Newbury town
And the Salisbury marshes wide and brown,
Over the bar the cliff-born river
Lapsed into the sea's forever!