Alexandria Daily Advertiser

SONG - BY DIBDIN.

A voyage at sea and all is strife,
Its pleasures and its pain,
At every point resembles life:
Hard work for little gain.
The anchor's weigh'd, smooth is the flood,
Serene seems every form,
But soon alas! comes on the scud,
That speaks the threat'ning storm.
The towering masts, in splinters shivering
The useless sails in tatters quivering,
Thunder rolling, lightning flashing,
Waves in horrid tumult dashing.
Foam along the dreary shore.
Still while tars sit round so jolly,
The sprightly flute calls care a folly
Aloft, alow, afloat, aground,
Let but the smiling grog go round,
And storms are heard no more.
The voyage through life is various found,
The wind is seldom fair,
Though to the Straits of Pleasure bound
Too oft we touch at Care;
Impervious dangers we explore,
False friends, some faithless she.;
Pirates and sharks are found ashore
As often as at sea.
A lowering storm, from envy brewing;
Shall at a distance menace ruin,
While, Slander, Malice, and Detraction,
A host of fiends shall bring in action,
And plant Care's thorns at every pore.
Yet round'to sweet domestic duty
Some manly imp or infant beauty
Clings round his neck, or climbs his knees,
Each thorn's pluck'd out, pain's turn'd to ease,
And storms are heard no more.
The ship towers gaily on the main,
To fight its country's cause,
And bids the obedient world maintain
Its honors and its laws;
Nor from surrounding danger shrinks
Till sacrificed to fame;
Death dealing round she nobly sinks
Only to live in name.
And so the man: his ample measure
Fill'd with alternate pain and pleasure,
Till long in age and honor living,
Life's strength worn out a lesson giving,
To those he leaves his well got store.
Mild hope and resignation greeting,
The playful soul in inches fleeting
Makes onward to its native skies,
While gasping nature pants and dies
And storms are heard no more.