The Departure

Again thy winds are pealing in mine ear! Again thy waves are flashing in my sight! Thy memory-haunting tones again I hear, As, through the spray, our vessel wings her flight! On thy cerulean breast, now swelling high, Again, thou broad Atlantic, am I cast! Six years, with noiseless tread, have glided by, Since the unsounded deep I traversed last. The sea-birds o'er me wheel, as if to greet An old companion; on my naked brow, The sparkling foam-drops not unkindly beat; Flows through my hair the fresh'ning breeze---and now Th' horizon's ring enclasps me; and I stand, Gazing where fades from view, cloud-like, my father-land!