A Birthday on Board

(To Captain McMichan, of the Umbria)
Your Birthday, Captain! And we come
To greet you, Matron, Mother, and Maid:

Service like yours, Men tell us, from
The Ladies' lips is best repaid!

We greet you for your Birthday's sake,
But still more warmly for your own;

No truer Sailor treads the deck.

How many a Triumph, all unknown,
You have won by night from Death the grim,
Where Danger lurked like some Sea-Elf:

We take the larger pride in him
Who shows so little for himself.

We give our lives into his hand,
And trust him where we cannot aid:

He guides us safe from land to land;
He makes the fearful unafraid.

"When the Sea rises, ridge on ridge,
Against us, like some serried foe,
We think " the Captain's on the bridge,"
And we can safely rest below.

Through all its Vast may Ocean roll,
Its billows beat, its voices rave,
'Tis but the servant of the Soul
That rides the Wind and rides the Wave.

We lack the words to speak your worth,
But Avhen the Voyage of life is o'er,
Safe Harbour to you! And a Berth
A 1, on an Eternal Shore.