Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ROMANCE (SEAMEN'S STRIKE) by FRANK WILMOT

First Line: PROUD LEGIONS STRODE THE VALLEY OF THE DAYS
Last Line: THEIR SURLY CLAMOUR FOR A LOUSELESS BED.
Subject(s): LABOR UNIONS; SAILING & SAILORS; STRIKES; LABOR DISPUTES; LOCKOUTS;

PROUD legions strode the valley of the days,
Behind their march obscuring dust rolled high
To melt wild deeds to legends and defy
Our honest hope for truth and just dispraise.
Lagoons and rainbows! Peer into the haze:
Flash the charged corselet and the spear-bright eye.
All queens are kind, all warriors glad to die --
But no dust softens the life before our gaze!

The stampers break from quartz our age of gold!
Ah, gallantry! Fists beat and women rend
The dark with moans, while stokers, mad, half-fed,
Put out the lights and chill men's bones with cold
Before complacent villa-folk attend
Their surly clamour for a louseless bed.



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