THE MAELSTROM.
[Few illustrations of the nature and power of temptation are more impressive than that derived from the Norwegian Maelstrom.]
JUST off the coast of Norway,
Two tides of ocean sweep,
And they make a terrific whirlpool,
With vortex fierce and deep.
Inward and inward ever
The circling waves go round,
Swift and more swift, with fearful rush,
They seek the abyss profound.
Oh! Woe to the helpless ship,
That enters that treacherous tide;
At first, on the outer circle,
It seems secure to ride;
But now, in the boiling current,
'T is tossed like a plaything weak,
And the air is rent with the piercing note
Of the mariner's dying shriek.
There lieth a treacherous whirlpool,
Off the coast of human life,
Whose waters are seething and rushing,
Like demons of evil and strife;
And like the Norwegian maelstrom,
The outermost circle seems fair,
But woe to him who is hopelessly plunged
In its vortex of guilt and despair.
O youth, beware of the current
The current of folly and sin,
Approach not its farthest circle,
Lest you reach the abyss within;
For worse than the shriek of the dying,
That rings from the Norway coast,
Is the wail of a perishing human soul,
At last and forever lost!
