A life on the ocean wave

Epes Sargent 1813 (Gloucester) – 1880 (Boston)



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!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 04, 2023

45 sec read
194

Quick analysis:

Scheme Ababcdcd exeefgfg hihigagA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 740
Words 149
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

Epes Sargent

Epes Sargent was an American editor, poet and playwright. more…

All Epes Sargent poems | Epes Sargent Books

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