Poems (Hoffman)/Lines to the Ocean

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

LINES TO THE OCEAN

Old Ocean, none knoweth thy story;
 Man cannot thy secrets unfold,
Thy blue waves sing songs of thy glory
 But where are thy treasures untold?

Are they hidden away in the mosses
 And sea-weed that covers thy bed?
O tell us, where are all our losses,
 Our gold and our gems and our dead?

O where are the loved ones who perished,
 Who found in thy bosom their grave?
O where are the fond hopes so cherished
 That sank 'neath thy cold, cruel wave?

Ships loaded with jewels unnumbered
 Have sunk in thy waters from sight,
While passengers, e'en while they slumbered,
 Were lost in thy cold cheerless night.

Down deep in thy depths they are buried,
 No more on the earth will they shine.
Far, far, from our reach they are carried
 To rest in the Ocean's vast mine.

Thou hast them, old Ocean, and mortals
 Can never take from thee thy prey;
In thee did they find the tomb's portals,
 And none knew the spot where they lay.

None knoweth? One sees where they slumber,
 And greater than thine is His will;
He seeth thy gems without number,
 He speaks and thy breakers are still.

There is One who hath had in all ages,
 Dominion o'er sea and o'er land;
He ruleth the sea when it rageth,
 He holdeth the deep in his hand.

Roll on, chilly wave and fierce breaker,
 And guard the vast stores of thy bed;
'Till at the command of their Maker,
 The waters shall give up their dead.