Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow
The Fisher Child's Lullaby
by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"The wind is out in its rage to–night,"
"The wind is out in its rage to–night,"
Three children imagine themselves pirates.
"I’ve always been a faithful man"
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore
"Oh the breeze is blowin’ balmy"
Ishmael is calmed by the still water of the Pacific Ocean, but it has the opposite effect on Ahab.
"I found you and I lost you,"
The speaker describes and reflects upon the scenery of a Florida beach.
"‘Twixt a smile and a tear,"
The men aboard a tiny boat discover they are sinking. The captain is hurt and unable to assist the men other than moral support. The men continue to fear each crashing wave that threatens to sink their dingy.
Betsy Bobbin and her friend Hank, a donkey, are shipwrecked and floating on a raft in the ocean when they spot a beautiful country that looked deserted.
"A bee that was searching for sweets one day"
"Lo! Death has reared himself a throne"
The author describes a sunset on the coast.
The smell of the sea in my nostrils,
The gray of the sea, and the gray of the sky,
"If you could sit with me beside the sea to–day,"
"Out of the sunshine and out of the heat,"
"Kiss me, Miami, thou most constant one!"
Glee! The great storm is over!
In Life’s Red Sea with faith I plant my feet,
"'Twas noontide of summer,"
"Ah, Douglass, we have fall’n on evil days,"
As the men keep watch over the days kill, Fedallah reveals a prophesy to Ahab.