A SONG FOR HEALING

By Cale Young Rice

When I return to the world again,

The world of fret and fight,

To grapple with godless things and men,

In battle, wrong or right,

I will remember this — the sea,

And the white stars hanging high,

And the vessel's bow

Where calmly now

I gaze to the boundless sky.

When I am deaf with the din of strife,

And blind amid despair,

When I am choked with the dust of life

And long for free soul-air,

I will recall this sound — the sea's,

And the wide horizon's hope,

And the wind that blows

And the phosphor snows

That fall as the cleft waves ope.

When I am beaten — when I fall

On the bed of black defeat,

When I have hungered, and in gall

Have got but shame to eat,

I will remember this — the sea,

And its tide as soft as sleep,

And the clear night sky

That heals for aye

All who will trust its Deep.