THE OCEAN IS CALM.
I
The ocean is calm, and the winds are asleep,
There is not a wave on the face of the deep.
The water all gilded by sunbeams appears,
Like dimples of infancy smiling thro' tears.
Above as the snowy sails motionless lie,
So faint is the summer breeze murmuring by,
The waters disturb'd by our boat gently move,
Like the soft waving down on the breast of a dove.
II
When we gaze on the water, how little we know
Of floods that unfathom'd are frowning below.
Ah! who that now looks on this glittering form
Would dream of its terrors in whirlwind and storm;
How many, elated with visions of bliss,
Have embark'd when the day seem'd as tranquil as this,
And thought not of storms and of dangers to come,
Though they lurked in the breeze that seem'd wafting them home.
