Page:Poems for the Sea.djvu/25

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MY FIRST SABBATH AT SEA.
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Filled with the scene sublime,
    The priestly heart grew bold,
To speak with eloquence of Him,
    Who the great deep controlled;
And loftier was his youthful brow,
    And deep his tuneful voice,
That warned the sinner to repent,
    And bade the saint rejoice.

A spell was on the heart,
    That bowed the proudest head,
Above us the eternal skies,
    Beneath our feet the dead;
The dead who knew no burial rite,
    Save storm, or battle cry,
Whose tombs are where the coral grows,
    And the sea-monsters lie.

It is a blessed thing
    In God's own courts to stand,
And hear the pealing organ swell,
    And join the prayerful band;

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