O Mighty Sea! O Mighty Sea!

I awoke one broad day

I was tossing at the south-west,

The sun being at its highest;

I descended to the sea

In formidable cliffs.

O Mighty Sea! O Mighty Sea!

The peak of adventure hill was at

My elbow; bounded with cliffs

Fifty to seventy feet high,

And fringed with great

Masses of fallen rock—

Loud reverberations, heavy spray

Flying and falling, followed one

Another from minute to minute,

That attempted to discourage my adventure;

My undaunted courage ne'er yielded—

O Mighty Sea! O Mighty Sea!

I ventured my sea adventure,

I beheld huge slimy monsters,

Soft snails of incredible bigness;

Copious, massing across

The bed of the mighty sea;

My vessel still forged ahead.

O Mighty Sea! O Mighty Sea!

I realised such creatures, your babies,

O mighty sea, your babies are harmless,

Your babies are formidable—

Your babies are rare to find;

They make up a great sea-bed-city.

O Mighty Sea! O Mighty Sea!

Starving at sea, still I preferred confronting perils,

The wind blowing steady and gentle ashore,

The billows rising and falling unbroken;

I was undaunted, I should ever succeed

In my adventure; O mighty sea!

O Mighty Sea! The weather was temperate,

I ventured advance;

The night drew nigh, O sea!

I forged ahead across your mighty surface,

There was a full moon;

O Mighty Sea, I advanced to success.

O Mighty Sea! O Mighty Sea!

There was a strange and huge

Creature ahead of me; that

Was the whale, the king of the sea,

And massing around it, were the

Young babies of the mighty sea.

O Mighty Sea! O Mighty Sea!

Long laborious miles I

Had still to accomplish;

Your babies ever happy to welcome me,

Lo! The sea-bed-city of marvels,

All of beauty, all of use, a planet could produce.

O Mighty Sea! O Mighty Sea!

There was a great city under the sea;

Polar marvels, and a feast

Of wonder, and shapes and hues

Of nature's arts prevailed;

O Mighty Sea! The city of peace.