But men must work, and women must weep, Though storms be sudden, and waters deep, And the harbor bar be moaning. Three corpses lay out on the shining sands In the morning gleam as the tide went down, And the women are weeping and wringing their hands For those who will never come back to the town; For men must work, and women must weep, And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep And good-by to the bar and its moaning. A MYTH A FLOATING, a floating "Oh, came you from the isles of Greece Or from the banks of Seine ; Or off some tree in forests free, "I came not off the old world "Oh, sing and wake the dawning — "The current sweeps the old world, The wind will blow, the dawn will glow, Ere thou hast sail'd them through. THE DEAD CHURCH WILD, wild wind, wilt thou never cease thy sighing? Dark, dark night, wilt thou never wear away? Cold, cold church, in thy death sleep lying, Thy Lent is past, thy Passion here, but not thine Easterday. : Aw'D by her own rash words she was still and her eyes to the seaward Look'd for an answer of wrath: far off, in the heart of the darkness, Bright white mists rose slowly; beneath them the wandering ocean Glimmer'd and glow'd to the deepest abyss; and the knees of the maiden Trembled and sank in her fear, as afar, like a dawn in the midnight, Rose from their seaweed chamber the choir of the mystical sea-maids. Onward toward her they came, and her heart beat loud at their coming, Watching the bliss of the gods, as waken'd the cliffs with their laughter. Onward they came in their joy, and before them the roll of the surges Sank, as the breeze sank dead, into smooth green foam-fleck'd marble, Aw'd; and the crags of the cliff, and the pines of the mountain were silent. Onward they came in their joy, and around them the lamps of the seanymphs, Myriad fiery globes, swam panting and heaving; and rainbows, Crimson and azure and emerald, were broken in star-showers, lighting Far through the wine-dark depths of the crystal, the gardens of Nereus, Coral and sea-fan and tangle, the blooms and the palms of the ocean. Onward they came in their joy, more white than the foam which they scatter'd, Laughing and singing, and tossing and twining, while eager, the Tritons Blinded with kisses their eyes, unreprov'd, and above them in worship Hover'd the terns, and the seagulls swept past them on silvery pinions Sigh'd as they plunged, full of love; and the great sea-horses which bore them Curv'd up their crests in their pride to the delicate arms of the maiden, Pawing the spray into gems, till the fiery rainfall, unharming, Sparkled and gleam'd on the limbs of the nymphs, and the coils of the mermen. Onward they went in their joy, bath'd round with the fiery coolness, Needing nor sun nor moon, self-lighted, immortal but others, Pitiful, floated in silence apart; in their bosoms the sea-boys, Slain by the wrath of the seas, swept down by the anger of Nereus ; Hapless, whom never again on strand or on quay shall their mothers Welcome with garlands and vows to the temple, but wearily pining Gaze over island and bay for the sails of the sunken; they heedless Sleep in soft bosoms forever, and dream of the surge and the sea-maids. Onward they pass'd in their joy; on their brows neither sorrow nor anger; Self-sufficing, as gods, never heeding the woe of the maiden. THE LAST BUCCANEER Он, England is a pleasant place for them that's rich and high; But England is a cruel place for such poor folks as I; And such a port for mariners I ne'er shall see again, As the pleasant Isle of Avès, beside the Spanish main. There were forty craft in Avès that were both swift and stout, All furnish'd well with small arms and cannons round about; And a thousand men in Avès made laws so fair and free To choose their valiant captains and obey them loyally. Thence we sail'd against the Spaniard with Likewise the merchant captains, with hearts as hard as stone, Which flog men and keel-haul them and starve them to the bone. Oh, the palms grew high in Avès and fruits that shone like gold, And the colibris and parrots they were gorgeous to behold; And the negro maids to Avès from bondage fast did flee, To welcome gallant sailors a sweeping in from sea. Oh, sweet it was in Avès to hear the landward breeze A-swing with good tobacco in a net between the trees, With a negro lass to fan you while you listen'd to the roar Of the breakers on the reef outside that never touched the shore. But Scripture saith, an ending to all fine things must be, So the King's ships sail'd on Avès and quite put down were we. All day we fought like bulldogs, but they burst the booms at night; And I fled in a piragua sore wounded from the fight. Nine days I floated starving, and a negro lass beside, Till for all I tried to cheer her, the poor young thing she died ; But as I lay a gasping a Bristol sail came by, And brought me home to England here to beg until I die. And now I'm old and going I'm sure I can't tell where ; One comfort is, this world 's so hard I can't be worse off there : If I might but be a sea-dove I'd fly across the main, To the pleasant Isle of Avès, to look at it once again. LORRAINE "ARE you ready for your steeple-chase, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrèe? Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, She clasp'd her new-born baby, poor Lor raine, Lorraine, Lorrèe, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, "I cannot ride Vindictive, as any man might see, And I will not ride Vindictive, with this baby on my knee; He's kill'd a boy, he's kill'd a man, and why must he kill me?" "Unless you ride Vindictive, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorrèe, Unless you ride Vindictive to-day at Coulterlee, And land him safe across the brook, and win the blank for me, It's you may keep your baby, for you 'll get no keep from me. |