For as a friend he did hug close
That fine large bird the Albatross,
Sailors row comrade back to ship,
Where he relates his wondrous trip.
Sailors fear that many a cross[J]
Will fall on crew kill Albatross,
This was slain in self defence,
And so no harm it came from thence.
"The lone Albatross incumbent on the air."
[I] According to E. A. Poe the Albatross sleeps in air.
[J] See Coleridge's Ancient Mariner for the calamity befell a crew for wantonly killing this bird.
VIRTUES OF A DIAMOND RING.
Of the strange virtues of a ring,
In simple strains we now will sing,
Brave warrior of ancient France,
Where danger was he did advance.
But he at last was struck by ball
And on the battle field did fall,
They dug for him a shallow grave
And slightly cover'd warrior brave.
But his servant man with warm heart,
Loathed with his master thus to part,
So he moved soil from where he lay
And found a lump of lifeless clay.
He turned away in sad despair,
That could not be his master fair,
That famed brave youth of noble birth,
Now all stained o'er with blood and earth.