SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES.
Reading edition
Though the ever-heaving ocean
Bear us from our forest-land,
Through the rising waves’ commotion,
To a far and foreign strand;
Still the heart, all space unheeding,
Firmly ’gainst our progress strives,
Leaves us, and with haste is speeding
To our sweethearts and our wives.
Ye may bind the eagle’s pinion,—
Check the deer’s impetuous course,—
Curb the steed to your dominion,—
Quell the torrent’s headlong force,—
But the spirit, fetters spurning
As our proud ship onward drives,
Leaves us, in its joy returning
To our sweethearts and our wives.
Noah’s freed and wand’ring raven
Toward the ark for safety flew;
Backward, to the spotless heaven,
Springs, at morn, the vesper dew.
Thus affection’s fond devotion,
Balm and solace of our lives;
Flies, like incense, o’er the ocean,
To our sweethearts and our wives.
P. E.