Classic Poem

I.

The Hindoo Maid, when her fond lover sails
At glory's call to tempt the dangerous sea,
Thus seeks to know if soft propitious gales
Will rise for him where'er his vessel be.

II.

A lamp within a radiant shell is plac'd,
(In which some sea-god had a fairy dream,)
And then 'tis launched upon the boundless waste
Of the bright Ganges ever-rolling stream.

III.

Far as the eye can reach, if the light burns,
And scorneth from the shell to sever,
Her love — her enterprising love, returns;
But if it sinks — he's fled for ever.

IV.

Iirne's damsels oft would place the plant,
That Nature loves, of purest emerald green,
Within some fruit-rind, or some nut-shell scant,
Yet pois'd upright, it was at distance seen.

V.

Then, trembling, hoping, to the Shannon's stream;
She flies to launch upon the shining tide
The plant, which, brightened by the solar beam,
Looks like an emerald as it on doth glide.

VI.

The wind blows fresh, — it saileth swift along;
Fleet from the heart flies all its wonted pain,
She utters Joy's tumultuous wild-wove song,
Her love shall bless her aching eyes again.

Oh! oft I think how sunless is our stream
Of life, that runs in passiveness along,
Though Friendship lends its fading taper beam,
Or Hope enchants us with her fairy song.

'Tis only woman's bright undying smile,
That can illume us as we onward glide,
Mock at Despair, and every grief beguile,
And light for ever life's dull languid tide.