A Song: The Lost Merchantman.
Dire is the night!—fleet lightnings flash
Across the sombre main;
The thunders roll; the surges lash;
Terrific is the rain:
The quiv’ring ship looks straight a-head,—
She strives to face the storm,—
When lo—the mainmast’s struck, and fled!—
Now her dismantled form
Reels piteously upon the wave,—
She mourns her broken beam;
And the poor seaman sees his grave
Within the turb’lent cream.
Unhappy ship!—unhappy ship!—
Ah! but an hour before
Light as a fairy didst thou skip;
And merrily on you bore
Your burden o’er the field of blue—
Trimm’d like a lovely girl—
Until the ghastly tempest grew,
And all hands ’gan to furl
Thy sails, to shun the dread “white squall,”—
That most unwelcome guest,—
The most portentous foe of all
Upon the ocean’s breast.
The minute-gun booms, but in vain;
Her ropes shriek in the gale;
Alas! her “midship”’s rent in twain:
The Captain, he looks pale,
And—faltering—sighs, and drops a tear,
But brave unto the last:
Now, conscious that his end is near,
(The ship was sinking fast)
Appeals for all to Him on high!
His orisons have flown;—
“Farewell,” he said to one “hard by,”
Then with the ship went down!!!
London, October 2nd, 1865.
Friend Charles ——.[81]
I’m glad, Dear C., to find you’re living still;
And thank you for the usual quinine pill:
Be pleas’d t’accept—more than the sum you crave—
Two extra postage-stamps, with which pray have
One glass of Bass’ —— to cheer thy trusty heart:
May ten years more (if spared to thee) impart
A better spirit to thy chast’ning health:
Altho’, like me—thou may’st lack worldly wealth,
Thou hast a soul symbolical of love,—
Yet never ventur’d in the Hymeneal grove!
Whate’er inquiries might be made for me
Among thine own, and my fraternity,
Tell them I’m blithe (tho’ scanty is my purse),
And that I care not one brave “cobbler’s curse”
For all the riches other men enjoy;
I do my best, my energies employ
To pay the sixpence where there’s any due,—
And therefore settle my account with you.
[81] A few lines on the author’s receipt of a box of pills from an old acquaintance (C. H.) of Ashburton.
