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SEASIDE MUSINGS.
Oh! what an untold sense of boundlessnessComes to our spirits as we gaze on thee,Thou grand mysterious ocean! What high thoughtsOf power unmeasured, of unrivalled skill,And wisdom infinite! We stand amazed,Our soul is awed within us, our vain prideShrinks in thy presence into nothingness,As the dull taper in the cloudless noon.Yet with it all there comes a mighty senseOf freedom and delight, and fires the soul,Till it would almost seem that time were spent,And nought withheld us from eternity.
And oh, what loftier emotions stillAre stirred within us! Oh, what ecstasiesOf love, and hope, and joy expand our hearts,As, standing on the far, far stretching vergeOf thy vast field of waters, we look offTo yet another ocean, broad and deepBeyond our utmost ken. It girds our globeFrom pole to pole, from east to farthest west,And we like little children on the shoreDip in our tiny buckets and rejoiceTo catch some drops of the o'erwhelming flood.But oh! we long to reach maturer years,When we may plunge into its wondrous depths,Or launch upon the tide and sail away,Content, yea glad, to lose our sight of land,Borne on the sea of God's unfathomed love.
