Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHARNEL SHIP, by LUCRETIA MARIA DAVIDSON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHARNEL SHIP, by                    
First Line: The breeze blew fair, the waving sea
Last Line: Mong the red coral groves for you.
Subject(s): Death; Sea; Dead, The; Ocean


(ON THE CREW OF A VESSEL, WHO WERE FOUND DEAD AT SEA)
The breeze blew fair, the waving sea
Curled sparkling round the vessel's side;
The canvass spread with bosom free
Its swan-like pinions o'er the tide.
Evening had gemmed with glittering stars,
Her coronet so darkly grand;
The Queen of Night, with fleecy clouds,
Had formed her turban's snowy band.
On, on the stately vessel flew,
With streamer waving far and wide;
When lo! a bark appeared in view,
And gaily danced upon the tide.
Each way the breeze its wild wing veered,
That way the stranger vessel turned;
Now near she drew, now wafted far,
She fluttered, trembled, and returned.
"It is the pirate's cursed bark!
The villains linger to decoy!
Thus bounding o'er the waters dark,
They seek to lure, and then destroy.
"Perchance, those strange and wayward signs
May be the signals of distress,"
The Captain cried, "for mark ye, now,
Her sails are flapping wide and loose."
And now the stranger vessel came
Near to that gay and gallant bark;
It seemed a wanderer fair and lone,
Upon Life's wave, so deep and dark.
And not a murmur, not a sound,
Came from that lone and dreary ship;
The icy chains of silence bound
Each rayless eye and pallid lip.
For Death's wing had been waving there,
The cold dew hung on every brow,
And sparkled there, like angel tears,
Shed o'er the silent crew below.
Onward that ship was gaily flying,
Its bosom the sailor's grave;
The breeze, 'mid the shrouds, in low notes, sighing.
Their requiem over the brave.
Fly on, fly on, thou lone vessel of death,
Fly on, with thy desolate crew;
For mermaids are twining a sea-weed wreath,
'Mong the red coral groves for you.





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