By The Sea

Ave Maria by the sea,

Whose waves go on forevermore!

And we, the sheltered of the shore,

Have prayed to thee

For those in ships that journey far,

Where all day long their sails are white,

And grey and ghostly in the night

Each ship beneath its star.

Ave Maria! Be our guide.

A watchful star, a port to reach,

Ave Maria! give to each

Some eventide.

Be thou our moon of mystic light,

Across the ocean's gloom and wrath

Showing the lines of a silver path

To watchers in the night.

Ave Maria! From the sea

The constant litanies arise;

The burden of its many sighs

Goes up to thee.

Our lives make murmur and are vain

As ripples bringing tiny shells,

That the great sea behind impels,

And all its waves complain.