"Land A-Head!"

"Land A-Head!"

SWEET music in the wave-worn ear!

It is the seaman's cry,

When the first speck of home-land near

Breaks on the eager eye;

Then, loud as lip the news can spread,
The top-mast man shouts - "Land a-head!"

O, as those gladsome tidings speed

Down through the decks below,

All hearts begin to melt indeed,

And eyes to overflow;

And blithe ones to the topmast thread
The way, to see the "Land a-head."

Once - and 'tis still a happy day -

I heard those accents fall,

Where earth had but a shadowy sway,

And seas no sway at all;

The heavens seemed past, and light, instead,
Broke out and beamed from "Land a-head."

I sat me by a dying man -

A good old man was he -

Whose years had through life's little span

Been less on land than sea;

Where he had fought and watched, and bled,
And shared bright hopes from "Land a-head."

Those scenes are now forever past;

His heart was on the shore

Where holy brethren meet at last,

And storms are heard no more;

And, rising from that lowly bed,
Would bound to see a "Land a-head."

I gently press'd his feeble hand,

So soon to turn to clay;

And wondered if his heart was mann'd

To meet that dreadful day;

When, as if in my looks he read
The thought, he cried out - "Land a-head!"

It was the olden, happy phrase;

But at that hour it came,

Not wrapt in light of elder days,

But in immortal flame

Poured out, and in abundance shed,
On man from heavenly "Land a-head."

O he could see beyond the skies -

Beyond the grave could see,

Where mansions of salvation rise

For such poor worms as he;

And nobly trod the path that led
Up straightway to that "Land a-head."

And thither he went up at length,

And walks the regions o'er,

Which arm'd those lingering hours with strength,

And cheer'd for years before;

If sweet to see, how sweet to tread
Celestial land - the "Land a-head!"

Hottoft, Lincolnshire.

Rev. George Bryan, M.A.

New Series 2:35, p. 150

1841.11.13