Page:Songs of Sea and Sail.djvu/74

 As I fly o'er the blue I sing to the crew,
 * Who answer me back with a hail;

I whistle a note as I slip by the throat
 * Of the buoyant and bellying sail.

I laugh when the wave leaps over the head
 * And the jibs thro' the spray-bow shine,

For an acre of foam is broken and spread
 * When she shoulders and tosses the brine.

Thro' daylight and dark I follow the bark,
 * I keep like a hound on her trail;

I'm strongest at noon, yet under the moon
 * I stiffen the bunt of her sail;

The wide ocean thro' for days I pursue.
 * Till slowly my forces all wane;

Then in whispers of calm I bid them adieu
 * And vanish in thunder and rain.

Oh, I am the wind that the seamen love—
 * I am steady, and strong, and true;

They follow my track by the clouds above
 * O'er the fathomless tropic blue.