Lines Written By Moonlight At Sea

Ah me! in dreams of struggling dread, Let foolish tears no more be shed, Tears wept on bended knee, Though years of absence slowly roll Between us and some darling soul Who lives upon the sea! Weep, weep not for the mariner, Though distant far he roam, And have no lovely resting-place That he can call his home. Friends hath he in the wilderness, And with those friends he lives in bliss Without one pining sigh! The waves that round his vessel crowd, The guiding star, the breezy cloud, The music of the sky. And, dearer even than Heaven's sweet light, He gazes on that Wonder bright, When sporting with the gales, Or lying in a beauteous sleep Above her shadow in the deep, —The Ship in which he sails. Then weep not for the mariner! He needeth not thy tears; From his soul the Ocean's midnight voice Dispels all mortal fears. Quietly slumber shepherd-men In the silence of some inland glen, Lulled by the gentlest sounds of air and earth; Yet as quietly rests the mariner, Nor wants for dreams as melting fair Amid the Ocean's mirth.