The Soul's Voyage.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVI, Issue 997, 8 December 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Soul's Voyage.

BY P. B. DOVETON. When a sadness gendered of self -disdain ■ Broods o'er my spirit like a pall, I flee the earth for the mystic main, And wander away where the sea-gull 3 call, Where, with low whistle, sad and soft, They call to each, other high in air, Wheeling so warily far aloft, Poised upon pinions white and fair. The waved come in with a solemn roll — The clear green waves of the sounding seaFlooding my sickened, sunless soul With their weird and their ancient melsdy. That soul, it seemeth to sail away Athwart the surge, like a fairy swan ; Over the ripples, beyond the day, Ever it floateth smoothly on I Diving anon in the cool blue deep, Threading the aqueous groves below, Waking the mermaidens out of sleep, Where the dim, delicate sea-blooms grow. Rising again to the line of light That quivers so brightly on scean's breast, Dancing away, with enhanced delight, Onwards — still onwards — towards the west 1 Memories olden of days long dead, Hovering cloud-like, high above, The dusky wings of the past outspread Over the waters the Nereids love 1 And fainter yet comes that muffled roll Of the wild waves washing the distant shore, To the free, exultant, rejoicing soul That lightly laughs at their " Nevermore 1 " A dirge that rises upon the wind, And falls anon till it dies away : On the marge the mortal is left behind, But the soul sails on to a brighter day ! — Public Opinion.