William Baxter Noah's Dove (1852)

 

T H E

L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .
S E P T E M B E R,   1 8 5 2 .

 

N O A H ' S   D O V E .
BY WILLIAM BAXTER.
THE bark which rode the deluge-storm
    Still sailed upon a shoreless sea,
The sport of waves, which threw their crests
    Aloft in chainless majesty.

The storm-tossed few on board oft cast
    Over that wide waste an anxious look;
But nothing met their wishful gaze,
    And hope well-nigh each heart forsook.

A hand put forth a dark-plumed bird,
    Which flew like arrow from the string,
And onward sped from morn till eve,
    Yet found no place to fold its wing.

But it returned not; then the hand
    Put forth a bird of plumage white,
And many voices from within
    Said, "Speed, sweet bird, to land thy flight!"

All day she cleft the trackless waste
    Of ether, but no wooded hight,
Looming above the vast expanse
    Of waters, met her longing sight.

Seven days pass by, and, lo! again
    She soars from that lone bark away;
But not in vain her mission then
    In search of land o'er ocean's spray;

For, ere the eye of day had closed,
    A budding olive-tree is seen;
She darts amid the fragrant boughs,
    And plucks a leaf of richest green:

Then hastens back with eager joy,
    To bear the signal to the hand
Of him who sent her forth to seek
    Some traces of the wished-for land.

She brought the reconciling leaf
    To man; and men will never cease
To call this white-winged messenger
    The type of innocence and peace.

 

[The Ladies' Repository 12 (September 1852): 335.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "Noah's Dove" was first published in The Ladies' Repository: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 12, No. 9, September 1852, p. 335. This volume, edited by W. C. Larrabee, was published in Cincinnati by L. Swormstedt and A. Poe and in New York by T. Carlton and Z. Phillips.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 16 April 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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