Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna (1790-1849). The Mariner's Midnight Hymn. Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

The Mariner’s Midnight Hymn

By Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna (1790–1849)


O THOU who didst prepare
The ocean’s caverned cell,
And lead the gathering waters there
To meet and dwell:
Tossed in our reeling bark	5
On this tumultuous sea,
Thy wondrous ways, O Lord, we mark,
And sing to Thee.

How terrible art Thou,
In all Thy wonders shown;	10
Though veiled is that eternal brow,
Thy steps unknown!
Invisible to sight—
But oh! to faith how near—
Beneath the gloomiest cloud of night	15
Thou beamest here.

Borne on the darkening wave
In measured sweep we go,
Nor dread th’ unfathomable grave
That yawns below;	20
For He is nigh who trod
Amid that foaming spray,
Whose billows owned th’ incarnate God
And died away.

Let slumber’s balmy seal	25
Imprint our tranquil eyes;
Though deep beneath the waters steal,
And circling rise;
Though swells the confluent tide,
And beetles far above,—	30
We know in whom our souls confide
With fearless love.

Snatched from a darker deep
And waves of wilder foam,
Thou, Lord, those trusting souls wilt keep,	35
And waft them home;
Home, where no tempests sound,
Nor angry waters roar,
Nor troublous billows heave around
The peaceful shore.	40