Part 2 (2/2)
The laboring and heaving of her waves Like the toiling of all humanity at its task, Braces the will with the story Of our faithful ocean's endless day.
O, great Pacific! Often calm as a sea of gla.s.s, Who durs't say that thou cans't not live And bestir thyself with boisterous life; That thou cans't not with growing fury hugely to thy defense arise, When rebuffed by wind, by rock and cliff.
Thy deep is not an incessant, idle sleep!
Thou cans't heave and leap and live with ponderous life, Until thy waves, up from the bottom turning, are all afoam with terrible rage, Their salty crests mounting on tangled spray And raining back to sea a million opals.
We love our sea and thy reserve of strength, For thou art indeed the favorite of our G.o.d, For when the Son of Man spoke to the snarling waves, Thou of all waters didst best obey and heed the Master's mandate, ”Peace be still.”
But He commanded not eternal quite and thou art somewhat falsely famed.
For when necessity's hour arrives, Thou with all violent seas canst throb from deepest heart; With unrestrained power plunging to climb the skys, crus.h.i.+ng against the rocks-- Sublimely tempestuous, majestic in rage, in fury glorious!
And after the waters' landward a.s.sault, To-day we can better ascend to observe the ocean's peace.
And here, great Sea!-- How naturally hovers infinity over that hemispheric calm, As from this rocky, sh.o.r.e-projecting cliff We behold thy endless expanse over meridians and the world, into and behind the sky--vast, serene, stupendous.
And as we gaze and wors.h.i.+p and pray, drenched with omnipotence, We dare with highest emotions declare That G.o.d, not once but always, walks the seas.
O life giving fount, a resurrecting breeze, We cling to our sea, an army of men in cities and fields, on streams and on hills, Because thou dost live and let live.
For daily thy breath kisses our sh.o.r.es with beauty and life, Thy varying moods are an unspeakable comfort to all manly souls.
For thy grandeur holds an invisible gate of gold, Through which sails a celestial mariner, the spirit of our Father, G.o.d.
O visitors to these enchanted sh.o.r.es, Join the brotherhood of the brothers of the sea-- Not dreamers, but heroic men, Who love our rock-ribbed, templed hills and gigantic trees, but better yet, our sea!
Take the shoes from off thy feet, For here thou art on holy ground before nature's truest Angelus, To feel the awe of power, to think as deep as truth, And leave a n.o.ble soul to uplift the homes of friends.
And deep-eyed patriots, On every sh.o.r.e and from every inland city, vale and hill, Look out and up, and live!
In spirit journey abroad over lat.i.tudes and longitudes, the equator and the sphere, To mingle with the vision'd souls of men who gaze far out on our Pacific sea Toward the slowly rising essential Republic of the world.
Fear not, move out in s.h.i.+p, in thought and plan-- Brave men, move out!
For on the waters of the Earth's vast deeps brotherhood has faith in Fatherhood.
And the G.o.d who bound together The colonies on our New England sh.o.r.es Will bind together the nations about the seas, Through fearless men of faith moving toward the best The alluring best that is still to be.
”The fact that man has discovered no celestial body which contains elements other than those of the earth is more than a hint of the unity of creation” and its movement towards a single purpose.--Adapted from Josiah Strong.
IV
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