The wild night comes like an owl to its lair, <br />The black clouds follow fast, <br />And the sun-gleams die, and the lightnings glare, <br />And the ships go heaving past, past, past - <br />The ships go heaving past! <br />Bar the doors, and higher, higher <br />Pile the faggots on the fire: <br />Now abroad, by many a light, <br />Empty seats there are to-night - <br />Empty seats that none may fill, <br />For the storm grows louder still: <br />How it surges and swells through the gorges and dells, <br />Under the ledges and over the lea, <br />Where a watery sound goeth moaning around - <br />God help our men at sea! <br /> <br />Oh! never a tempest blew on the shore <br />But that some heart did moan <br />For a darling voice it would hear no more <br />And a face that had left it lone, lone, lone - <br />A face that had left it lone! <br />I am watching by a pane <br />Darkened with the gusty rain, <br />Watching, through a mist of tears, <br />Sad with thoughts of other years, <br />For a brother I did miss <br />In a stormy time like this. <br />Ah! the torrent howls past, like a fiend on the blast, <br />Under the ledges and over the lea; <br />And the pent waters gleam, and the wild surges scream - <br />God help our men at sea! <br /> <br />Ah, Lord! they may grope through the dark to find <br />Thy hand within the gale; <br />And cries may rise on the wings of the wind <br />From mariners weary and pale, pale, pale - <br />From mariners weary and pale! <br />'Tis a fearful thing to know, <br />While the storm-winds loudly blow, <br />That a man can sometimes come <br />Too near to his father's home; <br />So that he shall kneel and say, <br />'Lord, I would be far away!' <br />Ho! the hurricanes roar round a dangerous shore, <br />Under the ledges and over the lea; <br />And there twinkles a light on the billows so white - <br />God help our men at sea!<br /><br />Henry Kendall<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/god-help-our-men-at-sea/
