THE VOYAGE OF LIFE.
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And in the bark is the frail form placed.Soon, with the light of the early dawnStreaming around his celestial form,Angel guide enters the little bark,Taking the oar in his gentle hand.Silently, slowly, beyond the shore,Out on the fathomless ocean Time,Angel and child by the bark are borne.Cloudless the heavens that o'er them bend;O'er the calm waters that round them glideSunbeams like jewels are glist'ning now.Onward, still onward, the bark doth glide;Shores in the distance are lost to view;Higher the waters around it roll;Brighter the heavens above it bend.Lo! on the heavens, in lines of light,Imagery wondrously fair is traced:Fountains, and shadowy bow'rs, and groves,Palaces, temples, and lofty domes. Now in the bark, with its angel guide,Childhood's frail form we behold no more:Youth do we see, with his beaming eyeFixed on the imagery traced afar.Glows all his spirit with new-born fires;Quickly he turns to his angel guide:"Tell me, O angel! if thou dost know,What are those forms that are traced on high."
