Sea and Shore

Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933), published 1904; M.E., alt.

Music, I yield to thee; As swimmer to the sea

I give my Spirit to the flood of song: Bear me upon thy breast

In rapture and at rest,
Bathe me in pure delight and make me strong;

From strife and struggle bring release,
And draw the waves of passion into tides of peace.

Remember’d songs, most dear, In living songs I hear,

While blending voices gently swing and sway In melodies of love,

Whose mighty currents move, With singing near and singing far away;

Sweet in the glow of morning light,
And sweeter still across the starlit gulf of night.

Music, in thee we float,

And lose the lonely note
Of self in thy celestial-ordered strain,

Until at last we find The life to love resigned

In harmony of joy restored again; And songs that cheered our mortal days

Break on the coast of light in endless hymns of praise