A little skiff on time’s dark stream,
With silken sail and golden
oar,
Is floating like a fairy dream,
And pointing to some distant
shore,
Where brighter
bloom more fragrant flow’rs,
Perfuming amaranthine
bow’rs.
The oar that dips the sullen wave,
Throws up some diamond rich
and rare,
Striving the sinking soul to save,
From the dark shadows of despair;
And though the
night be e’er so dark,
Light hovers o’er
this little bark.
’Tis Hope unfurls that silken sail,
And dips her oar in life’s
deep tide;
And dancing on before the gale,
Throws sparkling diamonds
far and wide,
And paints in
brilliant rainbow dyes,
Onward to some
radiant prize.