[Poems by Drake in] The life and works of Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) ::

XVIII

He cast a saddened eye around,
And what to do he could not tell;
But he leapt with joy when on the ground,
He saw a purple mussel-shell;
Thither he ran, and he bent him low,
He heaved at the stern and he heaved at the bow,
And he pushed her over the yielding sand,
Till he came to the verge of the haunted land.

158

She was as lovely a pleasure boat
As ever fairy had paddled in,
For she glowed with purple paint without,
And shone with silvery pearl within;
A sculling notch in the stern he made,
An oar he shaped of the bootle blade;
Then sprung to his seat with a lightsome leap,
And launched afar on the calm blue deep.

University of Virginia Library

XVIII