"LIKE THE COMPASS"--LONGFELLOW

              LIKE THE COMPASS

      Like unto ships far off at sea,

          Outward and homeward bound, are we.

      Before, behind,and all around,

          Floats and swings the horizon's bound,

      Seems at its distant rim to rise

          And climb the crystal wall of the skies,

      And then again to turn and sink,

          As if we could slide from its outter brink.

      Ah! It is not the sea,

          It is not the sea that sinks and shelves,

     But ourselves

         That rock and rise

    With endless and uneasy motion,

         Now touching the very skies,

   Now sinking into the depths of the ocean.

   Ah! If our souls but poise and swing

       Like the compass in its brazen ring,

   Ever level and ever true

       To the toil and task that we have to do,

   We shall sail securely, and safely reach

       The Fortunate Isles, on whose shining beach

   The sights we see, and the sounds we hear,

       Will be those of joy and not of fear!    

  May we all work to the end that we always point

to God as the direction we are going.