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Original, serious, and religious poetry

by the Rev. Richard Cobbold

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 IX. 
REFLECTION IX.
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27

REFLECTION IX.

This summer day what joy to take a trip
To Orwell's banks: to sail, to swim, and dip;
To dash in headlong, midst the spray and foam,
And then to feel, aye, really feel at home.
As buoyed upon the wave, to float and play,
And yet to struggle onward in the way:
To swim from point, to ballast wharf, or quay,
O surely monarchs, this is liberty.
This very day, the river's channel crost,
The poet felt as waves around him tost,
That life, with liberty of mind and frame,
Were worth more glory than a mighty name.

28

The depth below him, terrors could have none,
Since God above him an Almighty One,
Protects alike, by ocean, air, or land,
The faithful servant, who obeys command.
O Gracious Lord, thou Guardian God of Love,
Keep me from perils, let me ever prove
In spirit faithful, and in courage brave,
By morn, by night, on land, in air, or wave,
For thou alone, art able to preserve,
The spirit's breath, or body's active nerve.