Page:Poems by Cushag.djvu/55

53 And these men of the sea stood up in the boat,
 * That under them gave, and rocked, and swayed,

And their hearts o’erflowed with a mighty faith,
 * And they spake with God and were not afraid.

And they signed the Cross on the midnight air,
 * While the lifting billows rolled and fell,

And the star of night was their altar-light,
 * And the deep sea sounded their vesper bell.

And the elder lifted his sea-worn hand,
 * And bared to the sky his rev’rent head;

While the younger followed him word by word.
 * And thus to the Babe they spoke and said–

“If thou’rt a boy thy name shall be Juan,
 * If thou’rt a girl thy name shall be Joan.”

And the crying ceased and the Babe was still
 * And the sound of the sea was heard alone.

And a star shot up from the lone dark Keeill
 * And a soul flew free from the throes of night;

And their eyes were opened that they could see
 * The Babe’s glad welcome to fields of light.