a life on the ocean wave

A life on the ocean wave,
 A home on the rolling deep,
 Where the scattered waters rave,
 And the winds their revels keep!

 Like an eagle caged, I pine,
 On this dull, unchanging shore;
 Oh! give me the flashing brine,
 The spray and the tempest's roar!

Once more on the deck I stand
 Of my own swift-gliding craft,
Set sail! sail farewell to the land, 
The gale follows far a-baft.

We shoot through the sparkling foam,
 Like an ocean bird set free;
Like the ocean bird, our home,
 We'll find far out on the sea!

The land is no longer in view,
 The clouds have begun to frown,
 But with a stout vessel and crew
 We'll say "Let the storm come down!"

 And the song of our heart shall be,
 While the winds and the waters rave,
A life on the heaving sea,
 A home on the bounding wave!

Epes Sargent