Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/182

 166 HUGH PETERS. [1830-40. THE PARTING. Their bark is out upon the sea, She leaps across the tide : — The flashing waves dash joyously Their spray upon her side : As if a bird, before the breeze She spreads her snowy wings, And breaking through the crested seas, How beautiful she springs. The deep blue sky above her path Is cloudless, and the air That pure and spicy fragrance hath Which Ceylon's breezes bear — And though she seems a shadowless And phantom thing, in sport, Her freight I ween is happiness, And heaven her far-off port. Mild, tearful eyes are gazing now Upon that fleeting ship, And here, perhaps, an ashy brow, And there a trembling lip, Are tokens of the agony, The pangs it costs to sever A mother from her first-born cliild, To say — farewell, forever. And they who sail yon fading bark Have turned a yearning eye To the far land, which seems a line Between the sea and sky. And as that land blends with the sea, Like clouds in sunset light, A soft, low voice breathes on the wind, " My native land, good-night." And they who stand upon the shore, And bend them o'er the sea. To catch the last, faint shadow of The shrouds' dim tracery, — I ween if one could hear the sigh, Could catch the mother's tone. He'd hear it say, "Good-night — good- night. My beautiful — my own." That ship is gone — lost to the eye ; But still a freshening breeze Is o'er her wake, and drives her on Through smooth and pleasant seas. Right onward, thus, she will dash on, Though tempests shake the air. For hearts that fear not ocean's wrath I ween will aye be there. That sea is life. That bark is but The hopes of wedded love : The wind which fills its swelling sails I trust is from above. And ever may its progress be Through summer seas right on. Till blended with eternity's Broad ocean's horizon. THE YANKEE PEDDLER. There is, in famous Yankee land, A class of men, ycleped tin-peddlers, A shrewd, sarcastic band Of busy meddlers : They scour the country through and through, Vending their wares, tin pots, tin pans, Tin ovens, dippers, wash-bowls, cans. Tin whistles, kettles, or to boil or stew ; Tin cullenders, tin nutmeg-graters. Tin warming platters for your fish and taters ! In short, If you will look within His cart. And gaze upon the tin "Which glitters there. So bright and fair, There's no danger in defying You to go off without buying.