The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme The witch of Shiloh, the last of the Wampanoags, the gentle earl, the enchanted voyage |
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 | The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme |  |
XXI
“But sartinly the strangest show
Aboard was officers an' sailors,
A gang of younkers all aglow,
But dressed by dead an' buried tailors.
They had a far-off, hopeful gaze,
Reminding me of Eden's glory,
Or, ruther more, of pious ways
That lead to Heaven's upper story;
Besides, they had a gentle sadness,
A-glimpsin' through a trustin' gladness,
A gleam of meek an' patient graces
We offen see on corpses' faces;
By which, though not a holy liver,
I found it easy to diskiver
The creeturs were in great affliction
An' labored under deep conviction,
Yet entertained a hope to die on
The steep an' narrow road to Zion.
Aboard was officers an' sailors,
A gang of younkers all aglow,
But dressed by dead an' buried tailors.
They had a far-off, hopeful gaze,
Reminding me of Eden's glory,
Or, ruther more, of pious ways
That lead to Heaven's upper story;
Besides, they had a gentle sadness,
A-glimpsin' through a trustin' gladness,
A gleam of meek an' patient graces
We offen see on corpses' faces;
By which, though not a holy liver,
I found it easy to diskiver
The creeturs were in great affliction
An' labored under deep conviction,
Yet entertained a hope to die on
The steep an' narrow road to Zion.
180
“Well, trompin' on the skipper's shadder,
We ambled down the cabin ladder
An' found a gorgis-lookin' chimber,
All carpentered in whittled timber,
A dozen paces square by measure
An' bilin' over full of treasure;
For instance, cuppards, chists an' tables
Of ivory an' fragrant lumbers,
As fine as dreams in schoolboy slumbers,
Or what we hear about in fables;
With trinkets thick as Jews in Numbers,—
Tyaries, bracelets, silver flagons,
Gold-mounted gods an' jeweled dragons.
We ambled down the cabin ladder
An' found a gorgis-lookin' chimber,
All carpentered in whittled timber,
A dozen paces square by measure
An' bilin' over full of treasure;
For instance, cuppards, chists an' tables
Of ivory an' fragrant lumbers,
As fine as dreams in schoolboy slumbers,
Or what we hear about in fables;
With trinkets thick as Jews in Numbers,—
Tyaries, bracelets, silver flagons,
Gold-mounted gods an' jeweled dragons.
| The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme | |