When the pearl-diver's out on the restless sea
Sings he not to the temptest with reckless glee,
On the deep, though the storm may have found him ?
He has captured his prize while slumbered the waves ;
He has won his bright pearl from the ocean caves :
And he laughs at the hurley around him.

When ihe hunter is caught on the breezy hill.
By the storm at night which at morn lay still,
As his cot on the waste he is seeking,
Ho, he mingles his song with the night wind's moan,
For his chase is complete, and the game is his own.
Nor heeds he the storm darkly breaking.

It was thus in the days ofour joyous youth,
When thy eye spoke of love, and thy voice of truth.
And I loved thee so well and sincerely ;
O the first young kiss from thy lip which fell,
Was mine -and it told me how truly and well
That love was returned, and how dearly.

Now a stormy sea—a wild wilderness—
Is the world to me whom thy love cannot bless,
I must take it what fortune has made it.
But the first fond kiss which thy young lip gave,
Was never meant for a recreant slave.
And I've sworn I will never degrade it.