Whilst, inch by inch, the drowning ship sank low, -What follows, why recall?-The brave who died, They sleep as well beneath that purple tide, They sleep as well! and, roused from their wild grave, Francis Hastings Doyle CRAVEN [MOBILE BAY, AUGUST 5, 1864] Over the turret, shut in his ironclad tower, Craven was conning his ship through smoke and flame; Gun to gun he had battered the fort for an hour, Now was the time for a charge to end the game. There lay the narrowing channel, smooth and grim, The flag was flying, and he was head of the line. The fleet behind was jamming: the monitor hung Again he spoke, and right for the foe she rushed Into the narrowing channel, between the shore A mountainous wave, and she rolled, righted, and sank. Over the manhole, up in the ironclad tower, They stood like men in a dream; Craven spoke,— Spoke as he lived and fought, with a captain's pride: "After you, Pilot." The pilot woke, Down the ladder he went, and Craven died. All men praise the deed and the manner; but we- Sidney thirsting a humbler need to slake, Nelson waiting his turn for the surgeon's hand, Lucas crushed with chains for a comrade's sake, Outram coveting right before command, These were paladins, these were Craven's peers, COLUMBUS Henry Newbolt Behind him lay the gray Azores, Behind the Gates of Hercules; The good mate said: "Now must we pray, Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?" "My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly wan and weak." The stout mate thought of home; a spray Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. "What shall I say, brave Admiral, say, If we sight naught but seas at dawn?" "Why, you shall say at break of day, 'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"" They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, These very winds forget their way, For God from these dread seas is gone. Now speak, brave Admiral, speak and say"He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!" They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate: "This mad sea shows his teeth to-night. He curls his lip, he lies in wait, With lifted teeth, as if to bite! Brave Admiral, say but one good word: Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. He gained a world; he gave that world Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!" Joaquin Miller "O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!" [ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 1809-1865] O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills, up-for For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck You've fallen cold and dead. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. Walt Whitman HE FELL AMONG THIEVES "Ye have robbed," said he, "ye have slaughtered and made an end, Take your ill-got plunder, and bury the dead: What will ye more of your guest and sometime friend?" "Blood for our blood," they said. He laughed: "If one may settle the score for five, He flung his empty revolver down the slope, He climbed alone to the Eastward edge of the trees; All night long in a dream untroubled of hope He brooded, clasping his knees. He did not hear the monotonous roar that fills He saw the April noon on his books aglow, He saw the gray little church across the park, The mounds that hid the loved and honored dead; The Norman arch, the chancel softly dark, The brasses black and red. He saw the School Close, sunny and green, The runner beside him, the stand by the parapet wall, The distant tape, and the crowd roaring between, His own name over all. |