BY the dark rolling tide of the world’s troubled waters,
I sat down and wept on the willowy shore;
For the sin of her sons, and the pride of her daughters,
Had sullied the torrent and deepened its roar.
For rapine and murder the billows had dyed,
And their sound was of cursing, destruction, and woe;
On the surface, ambition, profusion, and pride,
While ignorance darkly was lurking below.
The foul blast of envy was fanning the strife,
Greed and contention and malice were there;
And I saw through the glittering bubble of life,
A void, and a pang, and a burst of despair.
And frail seem’d the barque in which Virtue was gliding,
When Faith flutter’d wildly, and pale was Hope’s star;
For I knew not the Hand that the light skiff was guiding,
I saw not the Beacon that glimmer’d afar.
O Zion! as lonely I sat ‘neath the willows,
I thought of thy haven of peace and delight;
And sigh’d o’er the thousands borne on by those billows,
Far, far from that harbour of glory and light.
(Emily Mary Barton)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, World Poems, Light Poems, War & Peace Poems, Success Poems, Sons Poems, Sin Poems, Pride Poems, Vice & Virtue Poems, Daughters Poems, Envy & Jealousy PoemsBased on Keywords: deepened, contention, willowy, sullied