THE Ship of State! above her skies are blue, But still she rocks a little, it is true, And there are passengers whose faces white Show they don't feel as happy as they might; Yet on the whole her crew are quite content, Since its wild fury the typhoon has spent, And willing, if her pilot thinks it best, To head a little nearer south by west. And this they feel: the ship came too near wreck, In the long quarrel for the quarter-deck, Now when she glides serenely on her way, -- The shallows past where dread explosives lay, -- The stiff obstructive's churlish game to try: Let sleeping dogs and still torpedoes lie! And so I give you all the Ship of State; Freedom's last venture is her priceless freight; God speed her, keep her, bless her, while she steers Amid the breakers of unsounded years; Lead her through danger's paths with even keel, And guide the honest hand that holds her wheel! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO LIVE MERRILY AND TO TRUST TO GOOD VERSES by ROBERT HERRICK THE GRAVE OF COLUMBUS by JOANNA BAILLIE THE CALL OF THE DESERT by EMILY BALDWIN POEM, READ THE SOLDIERS' WELCOME, FRANKLIN, NEW YORK, AUG. 5, 1865 by B. H. BARNES WHITE GRASS by ADA BAZZACCHINI THE HALCYON BIRDS by WILLIAM ROSE BENET RENUNCIATION by MATHILDE BLIND ODE ENTREATING HIM ... IN THE CONTINUATION OF BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS by NICHOLAS BRETON |