Page:Poems for the Sea.djvu/156

 It seems as though a diamond shield Was o'er my bosom thrown, The eherish'dcherish'd [sic] forms of wife and child Are sunbeams, though the storm is wild.

And when I pace the deck, My midnight watch to keep, I ask the never slumbering Eye To guard their quiet sleep ; For them I toil, for them I save, And gladly dare the mountain wave.

Thoughts of my humble home My hardest labours cheer, And if it were a palace proud It would not be as dear, For now its little window seems The light-house of my brightest dreams.