Herman Melville

“The Ribs and Terrors in the Whale”

The ribs and terrors in the whale,
  Arched over me a dismal gloom,
While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by,
  And left me deepening down to doom.
 
I saw the opening maw of hell,
  With endless pains and sorrows there;
Which none but they that feel can tell—
  Oh, I was plunging to despair.
 
In black distress, I called my God,
  When I could scarce believe him mine,
He bowed his ear to my complaints—
  No more the whale did me confine.
 
With speed he flew to my relief,
  As on a radiant dolphin borne;
Awful, yet bright, as lightening shone
  The face of my Deliverer God.
 
My song for ever shall record
  That terrible, that joyful hour;
I give the glory to my God,
  His all the mercy and the power.
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