Classic Poem

O sea, I praise thy broad expanse
Because thou art the world's highway,
And, treading thee, I reach Cathay,
Japan, the Indies, England, France!

Thou art the means unto an end,
For this I seek thy waters blue,
But never came betwixt us two
That faith which fastens friend to friend.

He who, seduced by thy caress,
Would trust thee, knows thee none too well,
Now fair as Heaven, now fierce as Hell,
Ocean, thy name is fickleness.

Dearer by far it is to me
To wake at dawn 'midst twittering birds,
And crowing cocks, and lowing herds,
Than on thy restless waves, O sea!