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53
Prayer at Sea after Victory.
BY MRS.HEMANS.
So England to herself do prove but true.Shakspeare.
The land shall never rue,
Through evening's bright repose
A voice of prayer arose,
When the sea-fight was done;
The sons of England knelt,
With hearts that now could melt,
Round their tall ship, the main
Heaved with a dark red stain,
Caught not from sunset's cloud;
While with the tide swept past
Pennon and shivered mast,
But free and fair on high,
A native of the sky,
Her streamer met the breeze;
It flowed o'er fearless men,
Though hushed and child-like then,
Oh! did not thought of home
O'er each bold spirit come,
As from the land, sweet gales?
In every word of prayer,
Had not some hearth a share