Classic Poem

Weigh anchor, weigh, heave, heave, away!
And cheerily set all sail.
Stand by, stand by, hoist canvas high,
To woo the fresh'ning gale.
'Tis done, we're clear. A hearty cheer!
Hurrah! she fills and bends!
And pinions white for seaward flight,
Exultingly extends!

And now, and now, with furious prow
She rushes on her path,
And tramples the sea in savage glee,
'Neath her keel's triumphant wrath.
She buries her bow; but rises now
Like a seabird from the wave,
Just shakes her wings, and their plumage flings
Back to ocean what it gave.

Down comes the breeze, and we thresh the seas
Into silver fields of hoar,
To left, to right, the surge glares white,
And cataracts sheet and roar.
The white crests stoop with a fierce fell swoop,
Like eagles on their prey;
But they shatter and wreck on bow and deck,
And she tosses their ruin away.

'Mid the glittering flash and the sounding crash
Of the avalanche of foam,
Where wind and sea hold high jubilee,
Once more I find my home.
Free, free at last, hurrah! for fast
We're running down the land!
Let it go! for I care for nought that is there,
When once on the deck I stand!