Mapping Indigenous Poetry of North America, 1830-1924

"Joy Returneth With the Morning" by John Lynch Adair

A great storm had blown out the stars, 
And the winds, rushing from their caves, 
Lashed the sea into mountain waves; 
And the ship, under bending spars, 
In utter darkness plowed the deep. 
Unto Him whom the winds obeyed 
On Gallilee, I humbly prayed 
That in his keeping I might sleep. 

In a haven, calm and bright 
With tropic sunshine, where the scent 
Of orange blooms made redolent 
The breeze that was so soft and light 
That scarcely there a wavelet broke 
Upon the bosom of the bay,
When next morn' our good ship lay—
To glad consciousness I 'woke. 

So may it be, good Lord of all, 
When into darkness sinks my sun, 
And my stars go out, one by one, 
To such calm slumber may I fall. 
And that which only faith had been, 
Awake to find a truth to be, 
Where no white sails go out to sea, 
But are forever coming in.

 

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