Autograph Verses

(Written on board "Kyarra," bound for W.A.) For Miss Eliza Cook. "Prove what Life can give of gladness; Seek for aught that merits trust — All thy mirth will turn to sadness, All thy bliss to cold disgust. Soon revolving years will banish Fairest hopes, in darkness laid; Earthly treasures soon must vanish, Strength and beauty fail and fade." Thus, life-weary, spake the preacher, Closing his misguided quest. Heed him not, the half-truth teacher, Deaf to Love's supreme behest. But with Faith thy life adorning, Serve thy race as Heaven hath plann'd; Sow thy seed at dawn of morning, Nor at evening stay thy hand. Never shall this path seem weary; Never hath such purpose fail'd; Nor the retrospect proved dreary, When Life's furthest heights are scaled. And in bright realms still above thee, On some ever-verdant shore, Those thou servest, and who love thee, Shall rejoin, to part no more.