Or laughed, or watched, or slept,

The doomed three hundred of her living freight,

Unconscious that there crept

Through the still air the stealthy steps of Fate.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“Oh God, that fearful crash!

The stout ship reels, her planks disrupted wide;

Fast through the yawning gash

The green sea pours its dark, resistless tide.

What followed then, O heart,