St. Francis De Sales – William Edward Heygate [ Poem ]

The broad Campagna was a lake
And Tiber’s flood by break of day
Had swept the guilty house away
Then when my pilgrimage was o er
I stood upon Ancona’s shore
And there to suit my purpose found
A vessel for fair Venice bound
I gained the deck and hoped to sail
On tranquil seas with foaming gale
When lo a dame elate with pride
The humbler passenger espied
She for herself and hers alone
Had hired the ship Twas all her own
I must depart I prayed for grace
For scanty room and meanest place
But no The Captain asked in vain
Forth was I vilely cast again
I saw the white sails slowly fill
The heavens were bright the waters still
But soon I marked an inky cloud
Rise from the deep the sky o’ershroud.