 | A book of Bristol sonnets |  |
92
THE DEMERARA'S FIGURE-HEAD.
THE GIANT SAVAGE OPPOSITE THE STONE BRIDGE, QUAY HEAD.
Ill-judged Ambition, in some fisher's dock,Lays it's large keel; the boastful forges glow;
A people's plaudits hammer blow on blow;
Haste bends the sail, and Envy rigs the block!
Then, while the simple sailor-maidens mock,
When flattery's tide is at it's highest flow,
With pompous figure-head, and gallant show,
They launch; and perish on the nearest rock!
So think I, when, in such ill case, I see,
Left-handed Giant, thy preposterous size,
Doomed, with an envious threatening in thine eyes,
To watch these humbler vessels going free!
While they who pass, hold thee their City's shame,
And point a lesson with thine hapless name.
The figure-head of the “Demerara,” one of the largest ships ever built in Bristol. It was launched from Patterson's yard, about the year 1850, and broke it's back, through failure of the tide, as it went down the river; this disaster happened opposite Round Point.
“Left-handed Giant,” so called from it's holding it's spear in an ungainly manner in it's left hand.
| A book of Bristol sonnets | |