OUT OF SIGHT OF LAND.
i.
WE are at sea, at sea, at sea,
Still floating onward dreamily.
The isles and capes fall far behind,
Blown backward by the salty wind.
The sky her sapphire chalice turns
Upon the deep, which gleams and burns
With sunlight ; in the midst we ride,
A fleck upon the sheeny tide.
Millions of sparkles leap and dance,
Above the blinding, blue expanse ;
And on the round horizon-rim
The ghosts of vessels dawn and dim.
Beneath our bended glances break
The splendors of the restless wake.
We watch the iris-shedding wheel ;
We hear the swift melodious keel,
And wonder, when with placid eye
Some strange sea-monarch plunges by
Between his waves in marshaled file
That doff their white-plumed caps the while.
ii.
We are at sea, at sea, at sea,
Still floating onward dreamily.
