What man is there so bold that he should say br "Thus, and thus only, would I have the sea"? br For whether lying calm and beautiful, br Clasping the earth in love, and throwing back br The smile of heaven from waves of amethyst; br Or whether, freshened by the busy winds, br It bears the trade and navies of the world br To ends of use or stern activity; br Or whether, lashed by tempests, it gives way br To elemental fury, howls and roars br At all its rocky barriers, in wild lust br Of ruin drinks the blood of living things, br And strews its wrecks o'er leagues of desolate shore, br Always it is the sea, and men bow down br Before its vast and varied majesty. br br So all in vain will timorous ones essay br To set the metes and bounds of Liberty. br For Freedom is its own eternal law; br It makes its own conditions, and in storm br Or calm alike fulfills the unerring Will. br Let us not then despise it when it lies br Still as a sleeping lion, while a swarm br Of gnat-like evils hover round its head; br Nor doubt it when in mad, disjointed times br It shakes the torch of terror, and its cry br Shrills o'er the quaking earth, and in the flame br Of riot and war we see its awful form br Rise by the scaffold, where the crimson axe br Rings down its grooves the knell of shuddering kings.