Classic Poem

I.

What solemn awe pervades my wond'ring soul,
While o'er the deep I cast my straining eye?
Around me, waves on waves, stupendous roll,
And, mounting, seem to meet the bending sky.

II.

Whether the rosy-fringed dawn I view,
Purpling the golden east with infant light,
While the red sun yet drinks the falling dew,
And dissipates the lazy shades of night;

III.

Or whether, mounted in his glitt'ring car,
He darts meridian splendor o'er the main;
Or sinking softer down the western air,
He clothes with crimson clouds th' etherial plain;

IV.

The heavens and ocean still my vision bound,
Nor other object save what they dispense;
Within the vast circumference is found,
To charm the heart, or rouse the eager sense.

V.

Yet still the man, by Nature's grandeur fir'd,
Whom Heav'n's inimitable works can please;
Will feel his soul with gen'rous thoughts inspir'd,
Struck with the pow'r that form'd those awful seas.

VI.

How sweet the morn, when zephyrs round us sweep,
And in the east, with blushing beauty gay,
Bright Sol emerging from the pearly deep,
Leads on, in dazzling majesty the day?

VII.

The orient billows seem one living blaze;
The grey mists rise, with amber skirted o'er,
And float afar before the solar rays,
Collecting, in their march the showery store.

VIII.

Along the boundless aether, light, they fail,
Remotest regions feel their kindly aid ;
Or, on the hills they break, or lowly vale
Refresh, and fructify the thirsty glade.

IX.

Then, in meand'ring streams, they prattling glide,
Wat'ring the green savannahs in their course ;
And swell the river's oft revolving tide,
And mingle, foaming, with their native source.

X.

Oft when, in silent calm, the noon-day beam
Reflects its glory down heav'n's azure steep,
Through the clear waves, resplendent dolphins gleam,
And whales, enormous, gambol round the deep.

XI.

Oft in this wat'ry region fish are found,
Resembling animals of earthly form ;
Here, in black droves, the nimble sea-hogs bound,
Omen to mariners of coming storm. — —