 | The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") |  |
WRECKED.
Beauty in meter,
Not a song sweeter in movement than she,
Moving sedately,
Every step stately and graceful and free,
Form lithe and slender,
Heart warm and tender—
Fearful her fate to be wrecked here with me.
Not a song sweeter in movement than she,
Moving sedately,
Every step stately and graceful and free,
Form lithe and slender,
Heart warm and tender—
Fearful her fate to be wrecked here with me.
Born far above me,
Stooping to love me so fondly and well,
Piteous that for her
Loomed the black horror of final farewell,
Which on the fleeting
Joy of our meeting
Fell in its darkness to slay as it fell.
Stooping to love me so fondly and well,
Piteous that for her
Loomed the black horror of final farewell,
Which on the fleeting
Joy of our meeting
Fell in its darkness to slay as it fell.
Gay at the wassail
Sat in the castle each baron and knight;
At the words spoken
Revel was broken, alarm was at height;
Torches were flashing,
Hoofs wildly dashing
Over the drawbridge and out from the light.
Sat in the castle each baron and knight;
At the words spoken
587
Torches were flashing,
Hoofs wildly dashing
Over the drawbridge and out from the light.
Horsemen pursuing
For our undoing rode fiercely and fast,
Following after
Till with loud laughter, delirious, aghast,
At their vain gallop,
In a frail shallop,
Fled we on linen wings out in the blast—
For our undoing rode fiercely and fast,
Following after
Till with loud laughter, delirious, aghast,
At their vain gallop,
In a frail shallop,
Fled we on linen wings out in the blast—
Hither and thither,
Knowing not whither our vessel might sail;
Here a plank started,
There a mast parted as the shrouds fail;
Sails rent and riven,
Drearily driven,
Helmless and aimless and dazed in the gale.
Knowing not whither our vessel might sail;
Here a plank started,
There a mast parted as the shrouds fail;
Sails rent and riven,
Drearily driven,
Helmless and aimless and dazed in the gale.
White foam before us,
Lightning flashed o'er us its terrible glare;
Through the sea surging,
Swift currents urging—urging from where?
Terror around us,
Chaos to bound us,
With us rode danger and woe and despair.
Lightning flashed o'er us its terrible glare;
Through the sea surging,
Swift currents urging—urging from where?
Terror around us,
Chaos to bound us,
With us rode danger and woe and despair.
By the wave landed,
On this rock stranded past succor are we;
Hope has forsaken,
Doom overtaken my darling and me;
Yet is no sorrow
That on the morrow,
Clasped heart to heart, we shall float on the sea.
On this rock stranded past succor are we;
Hope has forsaken,
Doom overtaken my darling and me;
Yet is no sorrow
That on the morrow,
Clasped heart to heart, we shall float on the sea.
| The select poems of Dr. Thomas Dunn English (exclusive of the "Battle lyrics") | |