Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/61



On the death of the Rev. Mr., of Farmington, Connecticut, during a storm at midnight, while on his passage to South-Carolina, for the benefit of his health, accompanied by his wife.

THE southern gale awoke, its breath was mild, The hoary face of mighty ocean smil'd; Silent he lay, and o'er his breast did move A little bark that much he seem'd to love; He lent it favouring winds of steady force, And bade the zephyrs waft it on its course; So on its trackless way, it mov'd sublime, To bear the sick man to a softer clime. Then night came on; the humid vapours rose, And scarce a gale would fan the dead repose; It seem'd as if the cradled storms did rest, As infants dream upon the mothers breast.

But when deep midnight claim'd his drear domain, And darkly prest the sick man's couch of pain,