[ The United States schooner Alligator was wrecked on her return from the West India station, after the murder, by the pirates, of her commander, Captain Allyn] THAT steed has lost his rider! I have seen His snuffing nostril, and his pawing hoof; His eyeball lighting to the cannon's blaze, His sharp ear pointed, and each ready nerve, Obedient to a whisper; -- his white mane Curling with eagerness, as if it bore, To squadroned foes, the sign of victory, Where'er his bounding speed could carry it. But now, with languid step, he creeps along, Falters, and groans, and dies. And I have seen Yon foundering vessel, when with crowding sail, With smoking bulwarks, and with blazing sides, Sporting away the foam before her prow, And heaving down her side to the brave chase, She seemed to share the glories of the bold! But now, with flagging canvass, lazily She moves; and stumbling on the rock, she sinks, As broken hearted as that faithful steed, That lost his rider, and laid down, and died. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...YOUTH IMPERTURBABLE by CONRAD AIKEN NO MATTER WHAT, AFTER ALL, AND THAT BEAUTIFUL WORD SO by HAYDEN CARRUTH BATTLE OF BRITAIN by CECIL DAY LEWIS GOOD-BYE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SMOTHERED FIRES by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE HARD TIMES IN ELFLAND; A STORY OF CHRISTMAS EVE by SIDNEY LANIER |