And now that broad, deep sea, I crossed,
A truant sailor-boy.
And when its wildest billows tossed,
I laughed and leaped for joy.
Once when the midnight storm was loud,
Half deafened by the sound,
Reckless I climbed the slippery shroud,
And sank in gulfs profound.
On went the ship. With shouts of woe
My gasping lips were dried,
High rolled the waves with crests of snow,
And all my hope defied.
Methought even Earth's foundations rocked
With warring ocean's strife,
While scornful winds like demons mocked
My breathless toil for life.
So, there upon the broad expanse,
Like a vile weed I clung,
While jeering breakers held their dance,
And the mad tempest sung.
Up came the dawn. With pain I raved,
Then like a child would weep.
Methought it walked like Christ, who saved
The faithless on the deep.
Up rose the clear and glorious sun,
Dark sea-birds clapped their wing,
And hovered o'er me one by one,
As o'er a perished thing.
A ship! A ship!—her gallant crew
With pride the waves did stem,
My shrieks of anguish wilder grew,
What were those shrieks[1] to them?
Page:Poems Sigourney, 1834.pdf/192
THE DISOBEDIENT SON.
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