Whither her thoughts tended, what her heart felt, the images which filled her soul, as the ship flew on its course, all this is recorded by her own hand, in verses equally characterized by impassioned tenderness, and idealized beauty. To show how she thought and felt during those six weeks of her voyage, is to bring to view the very depths and springs of her enthusiastic nature. Of the two poems, the first is called the "Polar Star," the second, the "Night at Sea," which she transmitted to her publisher, Mr. Colburn, for insertion in his "New Monthly Magazine."
THE POLAR STAR.
This star sinks below the horizon in certain latitudes. I watched it sink lower and lower every night, till at last it disappeared.
A star has led the kindling sky—
A lovely northern light—
How many planets are on high,
But that has left the night!
I miss its bright familiar face;
It was a friend to me,
Associate with my native place
And those beyond the sea.
It rose upon our English sky,
Shone o'er our English land,
And brought back many a loving eye
And many a gentle hand.
It seem'd to answer to my thought,
It called the past to mind,
And with its welcome presence brought
All I had left behind.
The voyage, it lights no longer, ends
Soon on a foreign shore;
How can I but recall the friends
Whom I may see no more?
