The secret was, the fear and love
Of Heaven had filled his soul:
His trust was firm in One above,
Howe'er the seas might roll.
And Tom had sailed to many a shore,
And many a wonder seen:
The stories he could tell would more
Than fill a magazine.
He'd seen mankind in every state,
Almost, that man can know;
But envied not the rich and great,
Nor scorned the poor and low.
The monarch in his sight had stood,
Superb, in glittering vest;
The savage, too, that roams the wood,
In skins and feathers dressed.
The tribes of many an isle he knew;
And beasts, and birds, and flowers,
And fruits, of many a shape and hue,
In lands remote from ours.
He'd seen the wide-winged albatros
Her breast in ocean lave;
And bold sea-lions, playing, toss
Their heads above the wave.
He'd seen the dolphin, while his back
Went flashing to the sun,
A swarm of flying fish attack,
And swallow every one!
The porpoise and the spouting whale
Had sported in his view;
And hungry sharks pursued his sail,
As if they'd eat the crew.
And ever, when Tom Tar got home,
The children, at their play,
Were glad to have the Sailor come,
And greet them by the way.
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