Page:Poems Hoffman.djvu/232

THE DEEP OF DESPAIR AND THE HAVEN OF HAPPINESS

Like a vision it gleamed through the darkness
And flashed on my wondering view,
And at first, not the half of its beauty
Nor the depth of its meaning, I knew;
'Till as a fair painting in shadows
Grows clearer when daylight has dawned,
A radiance illumined its dimness
As if touched by some magical wand.

The scene was a tempest-tossed ocean,
Frightfully dismal and dark,
But soon on the waves, I saw tossing
The form of a frail little barque;
And nearer and nearer it floated
'Till plain to my view it had grown,
And I saw in it, weary and helpless,
A woman sat weeping alone.

Then an angel came down from the heavens
And poised her light wings on the air,
While she gazed on the waves' inky blackness
And the dense, heavy clouds of Despair,
And the tempest grew louder and louder
And the breakers dashed higher; until
She breathed on the turbulent waters
And the voice of their murmuring was still.

And the woman aroused by the calmness
From the depths of her sorrow awoke
And lifting her eyes, saw the angel,
And thus in soft accents she spoke:
"O angel! bright angel! my life barque
Has long sailed on this dreary sea,

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