Classic Poem

My life is like a freighted bark
Within a sluggish bay,
Over the smooth inviting main
Ready to launch away.

But yet in vain, to fill my sails,
The favoring breezes blow;
In vain to the port of my earthly rest
I turn my sea-ward prow.

In vain along the other shore
I see the loved ones stand,
And beckon me over the briny flood,
Home to my Fatherland:

For bedded deep in solid ground,
At the bottom of ocean hoar,
An anchor cast, still hugs me fast
To a flat and dreary shore.

But my Captain is on board with me,
He sees my longing state:
Patience, my soul! He knoweth best;
It is for thee to wait .

When at His command the anchor shall rise,
And I ride the boundless sea,
May His hand guide my little bark
To the haven where I would be.

And when, long tossed on the stormy waves,
My wanderings all are o'er,
Let me anchor at last in the River of Life,
For ever and evermore!