"Sabbath Morning at Sea" is a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning set to music by Sir Edward Elgar as the third song in his song-cycle Sea Pictures. It was first published by Browning in 1839.[1]
[Italicised text denotes line repeated in the song but not in the original poem. Square brackets denote words omitted from the song.]
The ship went on with solemn face;
To meet the darkness on the deep,
The solemn ship went onward.
I bowed down weary in the place;
For parting tears and present sleep
Had weighed mine eyelids downward.
The new sight, the new wondrous sight!
The waters around me, turbulent,
The skies, impassive o'er me,
Calm in a moonless, sunless light,
As glorified by even the intent
Of holding the day glory!
Love me, sweet friends, this Sabbath day.
The sea sings round me while ye roll
Afar the hymn, unaltered,
And kneel, where once I knelt to pray,
And bless me deeper in your soul
Because your voice has faltered.
And though this sabbath comes to me
Without the stolèd minister,
And chanting congregation,
God's Spirit shall give comfort. He
Who brooded soft on waters drear,
Creator on creation.
He shall assist me to look higher,
He shall assist me to look higher,
Where keep the saints, with harp and song,
An endless endless sabbath morning,
An endless sabbath morning,
And, on that sea commixed with fire,
And that sea commixed with fire,
Oft drop their eyelids raised too long
To the full Godhead's burning.
The full Godhead's burning.
The opening reintroduces the oceanic theme from Sea Slumber Song. At "And on that sea commixed with fire" the opening bars of the song cycle are quoted. [2]
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