Classic Poem

Thou Ocean, boundless, infinite,
In power irresistible,
In vastness grandly awful,
Omnipotent and kingly
Thou ne'er hast known nor dead nor living
One single braggart man as master.
Spirit of eternal motion
Above whose darkling pathless depths
There never sits the bird of silence
Motionless, maddening, songless!
As oft it sits a monarch lonely
Amidst the wilds of wildernesses maiden,
Thou master absolute o'er every
Green-eyed, tireless, lion-billow,
Who flings his name upon the breezes,
And roaring rushes up the seashore
With jaws wide-oped in avid longing,
But e'er returns unsatisfied.

— —

And we unknowing little pigmies
With hearts aglow and ideas lofty
Begin our barques preparing,
And where the limpid skies are swooning
Upon the throbbing bosom of the Ocean
We see the star of our ideal,
Its spirit beckoning and smiling; —
And then with compass ever starward
We sail away but never guessing,
That those from whom we gladly parted
We probably shall never see again
And some of us are lost before
We leave behind the harbor's shelter,
And some, because they fritter time
Away, forget they have a star,
And starve to death mid vanities;
And some are lost on rocks relentless;
And some are drowned mid storms tremendous,
And those who watched their guiding star
So patiently, so tirelessly,
Behold the nearer their advance,
The farther its retreat beyond
Their grasp, a flaming will-o-wisp!
And worst of all for those who are
To follow upon the waiting shore
With faces all alike with joy sublime,
We cannot leave one single warning,
For just as soon as we have passed beyond
The waters close again impenetrably: —
Each one must make his way alone —
And this is Life!