Alexandria Gazette & Advertiser

POETRY.

"SI JE TE PERDS, JE SUIS PERDU."

These lines were suggested by an impression on a seal, representing a boat at sea, and a man at the helm, looking up at a star, with the motto, "Si je te perds, je suis perdu."

Shine on, thou bright beacon,
Unclouded and from
Thy high place of calmness,
O'er life's troubled sea;
Its morning of promise,
Its smooth seas are gone,
And the billows rave wildly
Then, bright one, shine on,
The wings of the tempest
May pass o'er thy ray,
But tranquil thou smilest,
Undimmed by its sway;
High, high o'er the world
Where storms are unknown,
Thou dwellest; all beauteous,
All glorious, alone.
From the deep womb of darkness
The lightning-flash leaps,
O'er the bark of my fortune,
Each mad billow sweeps;
From the port of her safety
By warring winds driven,
And no light o'er her course
But yon lone one of heaven.
Yet fear not, thou frail one,
The hour may be near,
When our own sunny headlands
Far off shall appear;
When the voice of the storm
Shall be silent and past,
In some island of heaven
We may anchor at last,
But, bark of Eternity,
Where art thou now?
The tempest wave shrieks
O'er each plunge of thy prow,
On the world's dreary ocean
Thus shattered and tossed--
Then, lone one, shine on,
If I lose thee, I'm lost.

J. J. G.
Cork, March 11, 1822.