Now Weigh the Anchor

Now weigh the an­chor

hoist the sail

Launch out up­on the path­less deep

Resolved

how­ev­er veers the gale

The des­tined port in mind to keep;

Through all the dan­gers of the way

Deliver us

good Lord

we pray.

When tem­pests min­gle sea and sky

And winds like lio­ns rage and rend

Ships o’er the mount­ain-wa­ters fly

Or down un­fa­thomed depths des­cend

Though skill avail not

strength de­cay

Deliver us

good Lord

we pray.

If light­nings from em­bat­tled clouds

Strike

or a spark in sec­ret nursed

From stem to stern

o’er masts and shrouds

Like dooms­day’s con­fla­gra­tion burst

Amid the fire Thy pow­er dis­play

Deliver us

good Lord

we pray.

Through yield­ing planks

should ocean urge

Rude en­trance

flood­ing all be­low

Speak

ere we found­er in the surge—

Thus far

nor far­ther shall ye go;

Here

ye proud waves

your fu­ry stay;

Deliver us

good Lord

we pray.

With cord­age snapped

and can­vas riv’n

Through straits thick-strewn with rock and shoal

Along some gulf-stream

dark­ly driv­en

Fast wedged ’midst ice­bergs at the pole

Or on low break­ers cast away

Deliver us

good Lord

we pray.

Save

or we per­ish—calms or storms

By day

by night

at home

afar

Death walks the waves in all his forms

And shoots his darts from ev­ery star;

Want

pain

and woe man’s path way­lay

Deliver us

good Lord

we pray.