POEM OF THE DAY

EPES SARGENT 

Source/Photographer http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.45881.html

PUBLIC DOMAIN 

Via WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

*A Life on the Ocean Wave* 

“A Life on the Ocean Wave,” by 

Epes Sargent (1813-80), gives the

 swing and motion of the water of

 the great ocean. Children remember 

it almost unconsciously after hearing 

it read several times.

A life on the ocean wave,

A home on the rolling deep,

Where the scattered waters rave,

And the winds their revels keep!

Like an eagle caged, I pine

On this dull, unchanging shore:

Oh! give me the flashing brine,

The spray and the tempest’s roar!

Once more on the deck I stand

Of my own swift-gliding craft:

Set sail! farewell to the land!

The gale follows fair abaft.

We shoot through the sparkling foam

Like an ocean-bird set free;—

Like the ocean-bird, our home

We’ll find far out on the sea.

The land is no longer in view,

The clouds have begun to frown;

But with a stout vessel and crew,

We’ll say, Let the storm come down!

And the song of our hearts shall be,

While the winds and the waters rave,

A home on the rolling sea!

A life on the ocean wave!

 **Epes Sargent**