Page:Poems Curwen.djvu/118

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110
richard raby.

Richard Raby, Pilot.
    Songs of sadness
'Tis my destiny to sing,
If I strike one note of gladness
Sorrow comes on sable wing,
    Murmuring low,
In her voice of plaintive woe;
Joy can wait until to-morrow,
Sing, oh, sing, to comfort sorrow.

    Another barque—
An old and a familiar one—
Has slipped its moorings in the dark,
And on its lonesome voyage gone,
    Gliding away,
Silently, at the close of day,
Piloted by the Unseen Hand
To a better berth in the silent land.

    Faintly I hear
A voice like sweetest music, falling
Upon the weary pilot's ear;
Softly, soothingly 'tis calling—
    "Lay down thine oars,
Upon these peaceful shores
There is no watch for thee to keep,
Let go thy anchor! Rest and sleep!"