THE YOUNG MARINERS.
Bred up beside the rugged coast, three brothers bold were we;
Wild urchin mariners, who knew no play-place but the sea:
We spurn'd all space the earth could give the valley, hill, and field;
The main, the boundless main alone, our reckless sports could yield.
We long had borrow'd sail and skiff,—obliged to be content
With any crazy, sluggard hull, that kindly fisher lent:
At last our spirits, like our limbs, all strong and broad had grown;
And all our thoughts were centred in "a vessel of our own!"
Wild urchin mariners, who knew no play-place but the sea:
We spurn'd all space the earth could give the valley, hill, and field;
The main, the boundless main alone, our reckless sports could yield.
We long had borrow'd sail and skiff,—obliged to be content
With any crazy, sluggard hull, that kindly fisher lent:
At last our spirits, like our limbs, all strong and broad had grown;
And all our thoughts were centred in "a vessel of our own!"
The eldest-born, our hope and pride, the brightest of the three,
Had enter'd on the busy world, a sturdy shipwright he;
And mighty project fill'd our heads—we sat in council sage,
With earnest speech and gravity beseeming riper age:
Had enter'd on the busy world, a sturdy shipwright he;
And mighty project fill'd our heads—we sat in council sage,
With earnest speech and gravity beseeming riper age:
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