Classic Poem

From day to day we float upon a sea,
Now softly rippling to a summer wind,
Now plowed by gales and tossing stormily,
With rocks before and gulfing waves behind,
And sails all torn and flapping uselessly.

But whether on the ever-changing sea
Sweet summer sheds it calm or winter wails;
Whether in safe, still harbors we may be,
Or driven onward by relentless gales,
Or close by battling crags creep cautiously—

We have a chart to guide us on through all!
Past treacherous quicksands—past the breakers' roar—
Past rocky capes, where storms forever fall,
Through narrow passes, where rocks huge and hoar,
Lock out the sunlight with a frowning wall.

Our guide to safety and an open sea,
Where any winds shall wrangle nevermore—
If we but heed its reckonings carefully—
The sea without a storm, without a shore;
A calm and peaceful deep—Eternity!