Poems (David)/Answer to the "Pathless Deep"

by Edith Mary David

ANSWER TO "THE PATHLESS DEEP."

THE wind is fair, the dancing spray
 Fast breaking round our bow,—
The sea bird wheeling far away,
 All merrily on we go!

My own, my own, thou dancing waves,
 With bright and pearl crown'd ts,
Murmuring o'er its coral caves,
 Where the mermaid idle rests!

Cool and clear, mid the reft below,
 The fish and dolphins play;
As living gems, to the rocks there grow
 The ocean flowers so gay.

Swift-footed waves, ye wildly dance
 To the mermaid's Syren song;
And throwing back the pale moon's glance,
 Ye gaily trip along!

The moon is up, the stars shine bright
 Athwart the harbour bar,
And their pure and silvery light,—
 Ne'er passing cloud doth mar.

The deep, the deep, so fair and wide,
 The fathomless and free,
'Tis the wild and eddying tide
 That's ever dear to me.

Now swell the white and snowy sails—
 The lighthouse point is past,—
And bursting from their idle brails,
 They bend the lofty mast.

Hurrah! hurrah! can dusty land,
 With its verdant quiet lea,
E'en show, I ween, a bolder band
 Than the toilers of the sea?