“Now unto God and Christ the Lord Be praise and thanks alway! The sea hath given up its dead This blessed Easter-day.”
SEALED ORDERS
“Oh, whither bound, my captain? The wind is blowing free, And overhead the white sails spread As we go out to sea.”
He looked to north, he looked to south, Or ever a word he spake; “With orders sealed my sails I set— Due east my course I take.”
“But to what port?” “Nay, nay,” he cried, “This only do I know, That I must sail due eastward Whatever wind may blow.”
For many a day we sailéd east. “O captain, tell me true, When will our good ship come to port?” “I cannot answer you!”
“Then, prithee, gallant captain, Let us but drift awhile! The current setteth southward Past many a sunny isle,
Where cocoas grow, and mangoes, And groves of feathery palm, And nightingales sing all night long To roses breathing balm.”
“Nay, tempt me not,” he answered, “This only do I know, That I must sail due eastward Whatever winds may blow!”
Then sailed we on, and sailed we east Into the whirlwind’s track. Wild was the tempest overhead, The sea was strewn with wrack.