A Life on the Ocean Wave

A Life on the Ocean Wave by Epes Sargent

"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!

This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.