The Planet Jupiter

EVER at night have I looked up for thee,

O'er thy sidereal sisterhood supreme!

Ever at night have scanned the purple sea

For the reflection of thy quivering beam!

When the white cloud thy diamond radiance screened,

And the Bahama breeze began to wail,

How on the plunging bows for hours I've leaned,

And watched the gradual lifting of thy veil!

Bright planet! lustrous effluence! thou ray

From the Eternal Source of life and light!

Gleam on the track where Truth shall lead the way,

And gild the inward as the outward night!

Shine but as now upon my dying eyes,

And Hope, from earth to thee, from thee to Heaven, shall rise!

Epes Sargent

The Sea-Breeze at Matanzas

AFTER a night of languor without rest,--

Striving to sleep, yet wishing morn might come,

By the pent, scorching atmosphere oppressed,

Impatient of the vile mosquito's hum,--

With what reviving freshness from the sea,

Its airy plumage glittering with the spray,

Comes the strong day-breeze, rushing joyously

Into the bright arms of the encircling bay!

It tempers the keen ardor of the sun;

The drooping frame with life renewed it fills;

It lashes the green waters as they run;

It sways the graceful palm-tree on the hills;

It breathes of ocean solitudes, and caves,

Luminous, vast and cool, far down beneath the waves.

Epes Sargent

Rockall

PALE ocean rock! that, like a phantom shape,

Or some mysterious spirit's tenement,

Risest amid this weltering waste of waves,

Lonely and desolate, thy spreading base

Is planted in the sea's unmeasured depths,

Where rolls the huge leviathan o'er sands

Glistening with shipwrecked treasures. The strong wind

Flings up thy sides a veil of feathery spray

With sunbeams interwoven, and the hues

Which mingle in the rainbow. From thy top

The sea-birds rise, and sweep with sidelong flight

Downward upon their prey; or, with poised wings,

Skim to the horizon o'er the glittering deep.

Our bark, careening to the welcome breeze,

With white sails filled and streamers all afloat,

Shakes from her dripping prow the foam, while we

Gaze on thy outline mingling in the void,

And draw our breath like men who see, amazed,

Some mighty pageant passing. What had been

Our fate last night, if, when the aspiring waves

Were toppling o'er our mainmast, and the stars

Were shrouded in black vapors, we had struck

Full on thy sea-bound pinnacles, Rockall!

But now another prospect greets our sight,

And hope elate is rising with our hearts:

Intensely blue, the sky's resplendent arch

Bends over all serenely; not a cloud

Mars its pure radiance; not a shadow dims

The flashing billows. The refreshing air

It is a luxury to feel and breathe;

The senses are made keener, and drink in

The life, the joy, the beauty of the scene.

Repeller of the wild and thundering surge!

For ages has the baffled tempest howled

By thee with all its fury, and piled up

The massive waters like a falling tower

To dash thee down; but there thou risest yet,

As calm amid the roar of storms, the shock

Of waves uptorn, and hurled against thy front,

As when, on summer eves, the crimsoned main

In lingering undulations, girds thee round!

O, might I stand as steadfast and as free

'Mid the fierce strife and tumult of the world,

The crush of all the elements of woe,--

Unshaken by their terrors, looking forth

With placid eye on life's uncertain sea,

Whether its waves were darkly swelling high

Or dancing in the sunshine,--then might frown

The clouds of fate around me! Firm in faith,

Pointing serenely to that better world,

Where there is peace, would I abide the storm,

Unmindful of its rage and of its end.

Epes Sargent

A Life on the Ocean Wave

A LIFE on the ocean wave,

A home on the rolling deep,

Where the scattered waters rave,

And the winds their revels keep!

Like an eagle caged, I pine

On this dull, unchanging shore:

Oh! give me the flashing brine,

The spray and the tempest's roar!

Once more on the deck I stand

Of my own swift-gliding craft:

Set sail! farewell to the land!

The gale follows fair abaft.

We shoot through the sparkling foam

Like an ocean-bird set free; --

Like the ocean-bird, our home

We'll find far out on the sea.

The land is no longer in view,

The clouds have begun to frown;

But with a stout vessel and crew,

We'll say, Let the storm come down!

And the song of our hearts shall be,

While the winds and the waters rave,

A home on the rolling sea!

A life on the ocean wave!

Epes Sargent