Poems (Odom)/Impromptu by the Sea
IMPROMPTU BY THE SEA.
I stand on the wave-washed shore, to-day,
Watching the breakers for miles away;
Miles of a terribly raging sea,
Tossing its waters so high and free.
Madly and wildly surging along,
Dancing and singing its warlike song;
Dashing its white arms to and fro;
Now fiercely grappling the undertow;
Then dragging its great skirts back again,
And flapping them over its broad domain.
Oh! 't is a glorious sight for me,
This angry, leaping, and boiling sea;
Filling my soul with a solemn hush,
Hurling its foam with a mighty crush,
As though 't were lashed with a whirling rod,
Held in the hand of an angry God.
Only the great and Almighty will,
Can say to the awful waves: "Be still."
Just so are the waters of human life,
Tossing forever in pain and strife,
Only in heaven, all storms shall cease,
Where Jesus of Nazareth gives us peace.
Watching the breakers for miles away;
Miles of a terribly raging sea,
Tossing its waters so high and free.
Madly and wildly surging along,
Dancing and singing its warlike song;
Dashing its white arms to and fro;
Now fiercely grappling the undertow;
Then dragging its great skirts back again,
And flapping them over its broad domain.
Oh! 't is a glorious sight for me,
This angry, leaping, and boiling sea;
Filling my soul with a solemn hush,
Hurling its foam with a mighty crush,
As though 't were lashed with a whirling rod,
Held in the hand of an angry God.
Only the great and Almighty will,
Can say to the awful waves: "Be still."
Just so are the waters of human life,
Tossing forever in pain and strife,
Only in heaven, all storms shall cease,
Where Jesus of Nazareth gives us peace.