"And as to catch the gale Round veered the flapping sail, 'Death!' was the helmsman's hail, Death without quarter ! Midships with iron keel Struck we her ribs of steel; Through the black water. "As with his wings aslant, So toward the open main, "Three weeks we westward bore, And when the storm was o'er, Cloud-like we saw the shore Stretching to leeward; There for my lady's bower Which, to this very hour, Stands looking seaward. "There lived we many years; Time dried the maiden's tears; She had forgot her fears, She was a mother; Death closed her mild blue eyes, Under that tower she lies; Ne'er shall the sun arise On such another! "Still grew my bosom then, The sunlight hateful! In the vast forest here, Oh, death was grateful! "Thus, seamed with many scars, My soul ascended! There from the flowing bowl Deep drinks the warrior's soul, -Thus the tale ended. THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS. IT was the schooner Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea; And the skipper had taken his little daughter To bear him company. Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax, Her cheeks like the dawn of day, That ope in the month of May. The skipper he stood beside the helm, His pipe was in his mouth, And he watched how the veering flaw did blow The smoke, now West now South. Then up and spake an old sailor, "Last night the moon had a golden ring, Colder and louder blew the wind, And the billows frothed like yeast. Down came the storm, and smote amain She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed, "Come hither! come hither! my little daughter, And do not tremble so; For I can weather the roughest gale That ever wind did blow." He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat, Against the stinging blast; He cut a rope from a broken spar, And bound her to the mast. "Oh father, I hear the church-bells ring, Oh say what may it be?" "Tis a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!"And he steered for the open sea. "Oh father, I hear the sound of guns, Oh say what may it be?" "Some ship in distress, that cannot live In such an angry sea!" "Oh father, I see a gleaming light, But the father answered never a word, Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark, The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow On his fixed and glassy eyes. Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed That saved she might be; And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave, And fast through the midnight dark and drear, And ever the fitful gusts between The breakers were right beneath her bows, And a whooping billow swept the crew She struck where the white and fleecy waves But the cruel rocks, they gored her side Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice, At daybreak, on the bleak sea-beach, To see the form of a maiden fair, The salt sea was frozen on her breast, And he saw her hair, like the brown seaweed, Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, In the midnight and the snow; Christ save us all from a death like this, On the reef of Norman's Woe! |