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Poems for the Sea/The Trusting Child

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914929Poems for the Sea — The Trusting ChildLydia Sigourney


THE TRUSTING CHILD.



The good ship o'er the Ocean,
   Glides on, where skies are bright,
And rolling waves right merrily
   Propel her homeward flight;
But lo! the blast and tempest
   Rush from their prisoning cell,
The rocky coast, frowns dark and dread,
   The wintry surges swell.


'Tis night! Amid the breakers
   The headlong vessel goes,
And shrieking, like a wounded man,
   Strives with her vengeful foes;
Pale grows the boldest mariner,
   For scarce the trumpet's cry
Is heard amid contending blasts,
   Whose warfare shakes the sky.

How fearful is the tumult!
   Hark, to the wailing prayer
That mingles with the deafening storm
   Like hope amid despair;
Yet in the darken'd cabin
   Rocked by the raging sea,
There calmly sat a beauteous boy,
   Upon his mother's knee.

He sang a hymn of heaven,
   Then spoke so sweetly mild,
"The Bible saith our Savior dear
   Doth love the little child;

It telleth of a happy home
   Beyond the stormy sky;
Mother! He'll take us there to dwell,
   We're not afraid to die."

His brow was pure and peaceful
   As the pearl beneath the deep,
When the booming battle thunders,
   Across its bosom sweep;
Hoarse came the words of horror
   From men of sinful life,
But innocence, with soul serene,
   Beheld the appalling strife.

Lo! the black clouds are breaking,
   The winds remit their force,
The shatterd bark retrims her sails
   And slowly holds her course;
The wearied men are faint, as they
   Who with giant foes have striven,
But the trusting child, as he gently smiled
   Seem'd like a guest from Heaven.