Life’s Voyage.
The winds of heaven are loosed on high,1
The storm hath left its home ;2
Awoke to furious revelry,3
Wide heaves the ocean foam.4
There is no moon, with trembling light,5
To calm the troubled tide,6
No star to meet our watchful sight,7
No beacon ray to guide.8
Faint not, thou wandering mariner,9
Though night and wrath be there ;10
And at thy prow the shores of Death,11
And at thy helm Despair !12
Amidst the howling tempest’s force,13
And threefold gloom of fear,14
An eye beholds thine onward course—15
An arm to aid is near.16
The baffled storm lies hush’d in sleep,17
Forth springs the morning ray,18
And light the wanton breezes sweep,19
With music, on their way ;20
And, rippling o’er its bed of gold,21
Majestic—boundless—free !22
The unfathomable deep is roll’d,23
A light-invested sea !24
Now let the red wine circle fast,25
And wreathe the cup with flowers ;26
A strain of thanks for dangers past !27
A health to happier hours !28
So shall our days in joy have birth,29
And cloudless speed along,30
Hail’d by the heart’s ascending mirth,31
And hymn’d to rest with song.32
Awake, thou careless mariner !33
Heed not the faithless sky ;34
A deadlier power is on thy path,35
A darker peril nigh.36
Over many a wreck those waters flow,37
And many a hidden tomb ;38
And that fair sea which smiles below39
But tempts thee to thy doom !40