170
CRUCE AND CORONA.
The teachings of Crucè are fraught with pow'rThat ne'er before had oft to her been given;And some serene celestial light withinDoth lead her on to grander heights of truth.
And now an answer doth there seem vouchsafed,An answer to her teacher's dying pray'r:"And while she nobly bears her earthly cross,May she behold the crown that shines above."
How wildly fierce, O storms! ye sweep to-nightThe ocean, rousing all its waves to wrath,Until around the ship they dash and surge,And, mounting high, with snowy-crested foamEnfold it as it were its winding-sheet.
Within that ship, within a silent room,Is one who recks your presence not; the whileA dim and flick'ring taper casts its lightOn brows where death hath set its icy seal,And forms like statues motionless and cold.
With eyes averted from those lifeless formsAnd fixed in silence on the silent walls,