LIFE’S VOYAGE.
There rose, amid the boundless flood,
A little island green;
And there a simple race abode
That knew no other scene;
Save that a vague tradition ran,
That all the starry skies
Bore up a brighter race of man,
Robed in the rainbow’s dyes.
A youth there was of ardent soul,
Who viewed the azure hue,
And saw the waves of ocean roll
Against its circle blue.
He launched his skiff, with bold intent
To seek the nations bright,
And o’er the rolling waters went,
For many a day and night.
His lusty arms did stoutly strain,
Nor soon their vigor spent:
All hope was he right soon to gain
And climb the firmament;
Where glorious forms, in garments bright,
Dipped in the rainbow’s dyes,
And streets, star-paved, should lend their light
To his enraptured eyes.
And then might he his isle regain,
Fraught with a dazzling freight,
And lead his kindred o’er the main
To that celestial state.
But, whilst he plied the bended oar,
The island left his view;
And yet afar his bark before,
The azure circle flew.
Yet flattering hope did still sustain
And give him vigor new;
But still before him o’er the main
Retired the circle blue.
Though whirlpools yawned; and tempests frowned
And beat upon his head,
And billows burst his bark around,
Hope on that phantom fed;
Nor yet had ceased his labors vain,
Had not his vigor failed,
And ’neath the fever of his brain,
His vital spirit quailed.
Then Death appeared upon the sea,
An angel fair and bright;
For he is not what mortals say—
A grim and haggard sprite.
And, “Thou dost chase,” he said, “my child!
A phantom o’er the main;
But though it has thy toils beguiled,
Thou hast not toiled in vain.
“Thou hast thus roused each slumbering might,
And framed thy soul to be
Fit now to climb yon starry height;—
Come, then, and follow me.”