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Page:Poems Emma M. Ballard Bell.djvu/119

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THE VOYAGE OF LIFE.
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Rousing to anger the surging waves;Then, like a watery wall, the waves,Gathering now round the storm-worn bark,Break; and the lightning's red blaze reveals,Dark'ning and gloomy, the isles of Fear.Gazes the mariner on its shores;Darker and deeper the shadows grow.Over the bark do the billows ride;And from its place is the anchor swept,Plunged in the watery depths below.Now, on the fierce and stormy blast,Shrieks from the mariner wildly float;Feels he, as swiftly the currents roll,On to the isles of Despair he drifts.Turns he, imploring, his eye to Heav'n.Part the black clouds that above him bend;Light from the heavens in glory beams.By him there hovers an angel form,Guardian now, and his guide before.Thus to the mariner now he speaks:"Still do not fear, though thy hope be lost;Message I bring from the realms of Faith:Soon from those realms shall the breezes blow,Wafting thee far from these dismal isles."Spoke thus the angel, then winged his flight.Quickly the winds and the waves are stilled,