Littell's Living Age/Volume 134/Issue 1730/Outward Bound

VARIATIONS.
I. — OUTWARD BOUND.

Floating, floating, from dawn to dusk,
Till the pearly twilight dies,
And the mists float up from the sapphire sea
And cloud all the sapphire skies.
Floating, floating, while golden stars
Seem to float in a sea overhead,
And starry lights from a sea below
Glow orange, and purple, and red;
Till we seem floating out from the sea of life,
The tempests of passion, the storm-winds of strife —
Out into strange, mysterious space,
Till God shall find us a landing-place.

Drifting, drifting, to lands unknown,
From a world of love and care,
Drifting away to a home untried
And a heart that is waiting there.
O ship, sail, swiftly! O waters deep,
Bear me safe to that haven unknown,
Safe to the tender love that waits
To be forever my own!
Till we drift away from the sea of life,
The tempests of passion, the storm-winds of strife,
Out to a haven, out to a shore
Where life is love for evermore.