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