God Help Our Men at Sea.
God help our men at sea !1
In firelit, pictured rooms, ’mid wine and flowers,2
And gleesome company,3
The wild winds awe us, in our blithest hours,4
To sigh this prayer ;5
And, lonely, with clenched hands, at night ’tis ours,6
“ Lord of the waves, O spare ! ”7
God help our men at sea !8
I had a brother once. Our love ne’er fail’d9
In its intensity.10
Smiling on our sweet mother, as he sail’d,11
I saw him last.12
Ah me ! how that sweet mother droop’d and paled13
Ere one brief year had pass’d !14
A man is kneeling and praying. He is on an boat and holding on to a fallen mast. The
sky is dark with clouds and heavy rain.
1/2 page illustration contained within a single-ruled border.
God help our men at sea !15
They saw him, who outlived that deathful night,16
In his extremity,—17
Kneeling, and looking, in the stormfire’s light,18
To Heaven for grace.19
And angels’ glory was upon him, bright20
As upon Stephen’s face.21
God help our men at sea !22
Those pilgrim fathers, who leave all to teach23
Their Saviour’s charity.24
May their prayers, like St. Paul’s, in tempest reach25
His ears, who said,26
With an exceeding tenderness of speech, —27
“’Tis I. Be not afraid !”28
God help our men at sea !29
The workers, who at home can find no spheres30
For work ; whom poverty31
Drives from their birthland, strong, despite those [tears,32
To toil, and win ;33
And then, please God, return for peaceful years34
To their own land and kin.35
God help our men at sea !36
If lust of power or of revenge assail37
England’s tranquillity,38
Using His gracious gifts, we shall prevail,39
As oft before.40
And Israel see the proud Egyptians pale41
And “ dead on the sea-shore.”42