Death of Gilbert Cortlandt

For the Poughkeepsie Advertiser.
On the late Mr. Gilbert Cortlandt, deceased

BEYOND where billows roll or tempests vex
Is gone! the best, and loveliest of his sex!
His brittle bark on life's wild ocean tost,
In the unequal conflict soon was lost.

Tho' short its struggle, much alas it bore,
Then sank beneath the storm, and rose no more.
But when the Arch-angels awful trump shall sound
And thunder, LIFE, thro' all the vast profound,
The renovated vessel will be seen;
Transcendant floating on the silver stream!
Its joyful Ensigns waving in the air,
The tides propitious, and the zephyrs fair!
'Til safe within the destin'd port of bliss,
Each sail is furl'd, and all around is peace.
R--

Background

Gilbert Cortlandt was Henry's first cousin, the son of his aunt Joanna and New York Lieutenant Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt. Gilbert Cortlandt, nine years younger than Henry, was born 6 April 1757, and died at age twenty-nine. Gilbert's brother Philip, later General Philip Van Cortlandt, was the one for whom Henry waited while composing a poem to his baby daughter.

The poem is a wholesale steal from the poem Henry wrote for his wife Sally.

For Sarah (1883)

BEYOND where billows roll or tempests vex
Is gone the gentlest of the gentle sex!
---Her brittle bark on life's wild ocean tost
Unequal to the conflict soon was lost.
Severe her sufferings! much, alas, she bore,
Then sunk beneath the storm & rose no more.

But when th' Archangel's awful trump shall sound
And vibrate life thro all the deep profound
Her renovated vessel will be seen,
Transcendant floating on the silver stream!

All beauteous to behold! serene she glides
Borne on by mildest & propitious tides;
While fanning zephyrs fill her snow white sails
And aid her passage with the friendliest gales
Till safe within the destin'd port of bliss
She furls her sails and moors in endless peace.

For Gilbert (1886)

BEYOND where billows roll or tempests vex
Is gone! the best, and loveliest of his sex!
His brittle bark on life's wild ocean tost,
In the unequal conflict soon was lost.
Tho' short its struggle, much alas it bore,
Then sank beneath the storm, and rose no more.

But when the Arch-angels awful trump shall sound
And thunder, LIFE, thro' all the vast profound,
The renovated vessel will be seen;
Transcendant floating on the Silver Stream!

Its joyful Ensigns waving in the air,
The tides propitious, and the zephyrs fair!

'Til safe within the destin'd port of bliss,
Each sail is furl'd, and all around is peace.

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