Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.

Occasional Poems

Godspeed

Written on the occasion of a voyage made by my friends Annie Fields and Sarah Orne Jewett.

OUTBOUND, your bark awaits you. Were I one

Whose prayer availeth much, my wish should be

Your favoring trade-wind and consenting sea.

By sail or steed was never love outrun,

And, here or there, love follows her in whom

All graces and sweet charities unite,

The old Greek beauty set in holier light;

And her for whom New England’s byways bloom,

Who walks among us welcome as the Spring,

Calling up blossoms where her light feet stray.

God keep you both, make beautiful your way,

Comfort, console, and bless; and safely bring,

Ere yet I make upon a vaster sea

The unreturning voyage, my friends to me.

1882.