Page:Poems Laflin.djvu/36

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DRIFTWOOD.
THE leaden clouds sweep o'er the sky,
The fury of the storm is spent—
The driftwood scattered o'er the beach
All that is left by the warring element.

The sea-gull soareth high, and then,
Descending, hovers o'er the waves' white foam—
He calls a summons to his mate,
And flyeth forth the ocean wide to roam.

But ah! the wood which strews the sand,
Which by the sea was cast upon the beach—
Were every spar with eloquence endowed,
What lessons to us they might teach!

They first came from some noble tree
Which stood upon a rock-bound coast,
The branches of a Norway pine
Which flung defiance to the wild winds' boast.

Then were the branches cut away,
The great tree made into a mast,
And fitted to a ship whose sails
Should gleam like snowflakes on the ocean vast.

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