[Pg 50]

Thy hand supreme, an ever watchful guide,

Has steer'd me safe o'er life's uncertain tide;

Has led me on thro' danger's various forms,

Thro' faithless sunshine, and thro' whelming storms:

Thy kind indulgence now unfolds the page

Of future time to my desponding age.

On thee I call, with grateful joy oppress'd,

To speed my passage to eternal rest!

I am alone on earth—at heaven's bright gate,

Perhaps my friends their kindred spirit wait;

E'n now they wait, to bid my labours cease,

And point my journey to the realms of peace.

As the swift eagle seeks the fields of light,

When rolling clouds invest his mountain height,

My soul, on fiery pinion, upward flies,

And swell'd with grateful hope anticipates the skies."

Nor less Ernestus, from his friend apart,

In lengthen'd thought explored his secret heart.

[Pg 51]

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