Page:Poems of Emma Lazarus vol 2.djvu/213

Yea. profit by thy days remaining,
They hurry swiftly to the goal.
Be zealous in the Lord's high service,
And banish falsehood from thy soul.
Use all thy strength, use all thy fervor,
Defy thine own desires, awaken !
Be not afraid when aeaa are foaming.
And earth to her foundations shaken.
Benomhed the hand then of the sailor,
The captain's skill and power are luniedi
Gayly they sailed with colors flying,
Aiid now turn home again aahamed.
The ocean is our only refuge,
The sandbank is otu* only goal.
The masts are swaying as with terror,
And quivering does the vessel rolL
The mad wind frolics with the billows,
Now amootiis them low, now lashes high.
Now they are storming up like lions.
And now like serpents sleek they lie ;
And wave on wave is ever pressing,
They hiss, they whisper, soft of tone.
Alack ! was that the vessel splitting ?
Are Bail and mast and rudder gone ?
Here, screams of fright, there, silent weeping.
The bravest feels hie courage fail.
What stead our prudence or our wisdom ?
The soul itself can naught avail.
And each one to his God is crying,
Soar up, my soul, to Him aspire,