Dedication
TO THE NAVY
Our Sea
The Sea! the Sea!
Our own home-land, the Sea!
’Tis, as it always was, and still, please God, will be,
When we are gone,
Our own,
Possessing it for Thee,
Ours, ours, and ours alone,
The Anglo-Saxon Sea.
The stripped, moon-shining, naked-bosomed Sea.
No jerry-building here;
No scenes that once were dear
Beneath man’s tawdry touch to disappear;
Always the same, the Sea,
Th’ unstable-steadfast Sea.
’Tis, as it always was, and still, please God, will be,
When we are gone,
Our own,
Vice-regents under Thee,
Ours, ours, and ours alone,
The Anglo-Saxon Sea.
The mighty-furrowed, moody-minded Sea.
New suns and moons arise;
Perish old dynasties;
For ever rise and die the centuries;
Only remains the Sea,
Our right of way, the Sea.
’Tis, as it always was, and still, phase God, will be,
When we are gone,
Our own,
Our heritage from Thee,
Ours, ours, and ours alone,
The Anglo-Saxon Sea.
Our good, grey, faithful, Saxon-loving Sea._