A Wish-Burst. *
O, to bound o’er the bonnie blue sea,1
With winds and waves for guides ;2
From all the wants of nature free,3
And all her ties besides !4
Beyond where footsteps ever trode5
Would I hold my onward way,6
As wild as the waves on which I rode,7
And fearless, too, as they.8
The angry winds, with lengthened sweep,9
Were music to mine ear ;10
I’d mark the gulfs of the yawning deep,11
Close round me, without fear.12
When winter storms burst from the cloud,13
And trouble the ocean’s breast,14
I’d joy me in their roaring loud,15
And ’mid their war find rest.16
By islands fair in the ocean placed,17
With waves all murmuring round,18
My wayward course should still be traced,19
And still no home be found.20
When calm and peaceful sleeps the tide,21
And men look out to sea,22
My bark in silence by should glide,23
Their wonder and awe to be.24
When sultry summer suns prevail,25
And beet † on the parching land,26
The cool sea-breeze would I inhale,27
O’er the ocean breathing bland.28
A restless sprite that like delight29
In calm and tempest found,30
’Twere joy to me o’er the bonnie blue sea,31
For ever aye to bound !32
* We have taken the liberty of thus naming the above spi-
rited little poem, which first appeared unentitled, and with the
signature “R. H.” in a periodical work called “The Rainbow,”
which was commenced at Edinburgh in 1821, and, though con-
ducted with considerable talent, perished at the 12th number.
rited little poem, which first appeared unentitled, and with the
signature “R. H.” in a periodical work called “The Rainbow,”
which was commenced at Edinburgh in 1821, and, though con-
ducted with considerable talent, perished at the 12th number.
† See Dr Jamieson.