University of Virginia Library


140

AT PLYMOUTH.

At midnight we made out the Eddystone:
An hour ere dawn, majestical and slow,
We passed the iron fort, which daunts the foe
From Plymouth Sound, and dropped our anchor down.
At sunrise we took tender for Drake's town,
And walked at early morn upon the Hoe,
Where Drake his bowls would finish ere he'd go
To rock right to its base the Spaniard's throne
And smite his ships. We walked and looked once more
Upon the long black ship which o'er the waves
Of Indian and Atlantic oceans bore
Us safely home to look upon the graves
And mansions of our fathers, and to greet
Friends whom for years it was not ours to meet.