A SONG FOR HEALING
Reading edition
(On the South Seas)
When I return to the world again, The world of fret and fight, To grapple with godless things and men, In battle, wrong or right, I will remember this—the sea, And the white stars hanging high, And the vessel's bow Where calmly now I gaze to the boundless sky. When I am deaf with the din of strife, And blind amid despair, When I am choked with the dust of life And long for free soul-air, I will recall this sound—the sea's, And the wide horizon's hope, And the wind that blows And the phosphor snows That fall as the cleft waves ope. When I am beaten—when I fall On the bed of black defeat, When I have hungered, and in gall Have got but shame to eat, I will remember this—the sea, And its tide as soft as sleep, And the clear night sky That heals for aye All who will trust its Deep.