If time be a father,
his children find themselves
orphaned and alone at birth—
cast down into the depths
of the vast, violent ocean.

O! but what wonders
those dark heavens hold below.

Amidst the weeping lobsters
and the crying clams—
beneath the bloodletting leeches
and the pale, eyeless urchins,
there lies a treasure greater than gold
and more solemn than an autumnal evening
when no rain falls to earth
and there is simple moonshine.

Go, go and seek now
that balm the murky waters
are wont to bestow.

—Adm. R.P., 1864