OCEAN TEACHINGS.
" This great and wide sea."- Ps. CIV. 25 THAT rising storm! It has awakened me;
My slumbering spirit starts to life anew; That blinding spray- drift, how it falls upon me As on the weary flower the freshening dew.
That rugged rock- fringe that girds in the ocean,
And calls the foam from its translucent blue, It seems to pour strange strength into my spirit ,
Strength for endurance, strength for conflict too.
And these bright ocean- birds, these billow
rangers,
The snowy- breasted,-each a winged wave ,They tell me how to joy in storm and dangers, When surges whiten, or when whirlwinds
rave.
And these green- stretching fields, these peaceful hollows,
That hear the tempest, but take no alarm, Has not their placid verdure sweetly taught me The peace within when all without is storm?
And thou keen sun- flash, through the cloudwreath bursting,
Silvering the sea, the sward, the rock, the foam,