To break at my feet by the sunny sea,
A beautiful bubble came back to me--
Came back from my ship at sea.

I fashioned another in gladsome way
And sent it forth on a Summer day.
I see it yet, a fairer craft,
Never at danger mocking laughed;
Its shrouds were the sheen of happy hours,
Its helm a wreath of orange flowrs;
And I freighted it down with love and truth,
The golden hopes of my sunny youth.
Had it lived the storm--but it could not be,
A stranded wreck on the surf-washed lea,
My ship came home from sea.

And then a smiling fairy bark,
A fragile, precious-freighted ark,
Out on life's ocean drear and dark.
And I prayed to God as I never before,
To shield this back from the tempest's roar,
To spare me this--but it could not be,
A tiny coffin came back to me--
Came back from my ship at sea.

With reckless hand I launched again,
A venture on the treacherous main,
Bound for ambition's dizzy court;
Sailed from a hopeless, loveless port;
With gloomy walls whose silence chilled,