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I WENT TO SEA.
111

And where the broad La Plata rolls
   Rich tribute to the sea.

I've climbed the shroud when storms blew loud,
   And every star was dead,
And winter in the midnight cloud
   Had muffled up her head;
I've seen our good ship go to wreck,
   For such was heaven's decree,
And in an open boat have dar'd
   The raging of the sea.

Yet still that Pilot, who the helm
   Of this round world doth guide,
Preserved me, when the jaws of death
   Were yawning dark and wide;
Though when the blast was safely past,
   Too oft in thoughtless glee
My hard, ungrateful heart forgot
   The Ruler of the sea.

But oft my mother's image comes
   So pitiful and meek,