"YOU never see a decent figure'ead -- Not now," Bill said, "A fiddlin' bit o' scroll-work at the bow That's the most now . . . But Lord! I've seen some beauties, more'n a few, An' some rare rum uns, too. "Folks in all sorts o' queer old-fashioned rigs -- Fellers in wigs -- Chaps in cocked 'ats an' 'elmets -- lords an' dukes -- Folks out o' books -- Niggers in turbans -- mandarins an' Moors -- An' 'eathen gods by scores. 'An' women in all kinds o' fancy dresses -- Queens an' princesses -- Witches on broomsticks, too -- an' spankin' girls With streamin' curls -- An' dragons, an' sea-serpents -- Lord knows what I've seen an' what I've not. "An' some's in breakers' yards, bleached bare with time An' thick with grime; An' some stuck up in gardens here an' there With plants for 'air; An' no one left as knows but chaps like me How fine with paint and gold they used to be In them old days at sea." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE BEING AS MEMORY by HAYDEN CARRUTH CONTRA MORTEM: THE STONE by HAYDEN CARRUTH MODULATIONS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 2. ILLINOIS by CLARENCE MAJOR HOMAGE TO SEXTUS PROPERTIUS: 5 by EZRA POUND THE BLIND GOD by ISAAC ROSENBERG |