Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

POETRY:

Poetical Hymn to the Virgin Mary,

The Star of the Sea,

Star of the wide and pathless sea!
Who lov'st on mariners to shine,
These votive garments wet, to thee
We hang, within thy holy shrine;
When o'er us flashed the surging brine,
Amid the warring waters lost,
And hoped when other hope was lost,
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the vast and howling main!
When dark and lone is all the sky,
And mountain waves o'er Ocean's plain
Erect their stormy heads on high—
When virgins for their true loves sigh,
They raise their weeping eyes to thee—
The star of Ocean heeds their cry,
And saves the found'ring bark at sea.
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the dark and stormy sea,
When reeking tempest round us rave,
The gentle Virgin form we see
Bright rising o'er the hoary wave:
The howling storms that seem to crave
Their victims, sink in music sweet—
The surging seas recede to pave
The path beneath thy glist'ning feet.
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the desert waters wild!
Who pitying hears the seaman's cry,
The God of mercy, as a child,
On that chaste bosom loves to lie—
While soft the chorus of the sky
Their hymns of tender mercy sing,
And angel voices name on high
The mother of the heav'nly king.
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the deep! at that blest name,
The waves sleep silent round the keel,
The tempests wild their fury tame
That made the deep's foundation reel—
The soft celestial accents steal
So soothing through the realms of woe,
The newly damned a respite feel
From torture in the depths below.
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the mild and placid seas,
Whom rainbow rays of mercy crown,
Whose name the faithful Portuguese
O'er all that to the depths go down,
With hymns of grateful transport own—
When gathering clouds obscure their light
And heav'n assumes an awful frown,
The Star of Ocean glitters bright.
Ave Maris Stella!

Star of the deep! when angel lyres
To hymn thy holy name essay—
In vain a mortal harp aspires
To mingle in the mighty lay:
Mother of God! one living ray
Of hope our grateful bosom fires,
When storms and tempests pass away,
To join the bright immortal quires.
Ave Maris Stella!