Ballads of the Fleet and Other Poems A New Edition With several Additional Pieces: By Rennell Rodd |
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TO GERALD PORTAL
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 | Ballads of the Fleet and Other Poems |  |
134
TO GERALD PORTAL
A blood-red sky, a milky sea;
And home almost in hail,
And you that walked the deck with me
To watch that glory pale!
And home almost in hail,
And you that walked the deck with me
To watch that glory pale!
I think my eyes had never seen
So grand an even sky,
As that which ushered Europe in,
You only reached to die.
So grand an even sky,
As that which ushered Europe in,
You only reached to die.
Was it there first I learned to know
How much you were to me?
Though neither spoke, for that red glow
Had struck the silent key.
How much you were to me?
Though neither spoke, for that red glow
Had struck the silent key.
The torrid suns were far behind
The toil of dreary days,
The breaths of poison striking blind,
The wild untrodden ways:
The toil of dreary days,
The breaths of poison striking blind,
The wild untrodden ways:
I had no doubts, I never thought
Those kind and fearless eyes,
Those strong unfaltering hands, were wrought
Of stuff that lightly dies.
Those kind and fearless eyes,
Those strong unfaltering hands, were wrought
Of stuff that lightly dies.
O fierce dark land, unconquered still
Though doomed to our behest,
How long ere thou hast drunk thy fill
Of the blood of England's best!
Though doomed to our behest,
How long ere thou hast drunk thy fill
Of the blood of England's best!
135
The ship glides on, and overhead
The moonless night succeeds,—
Henceforth whenever skies are red
I may think my own heart bleeds.
The moonless night succeeds,—
Henceforth whenever skies are red
I may think my own heart bleeds.
| Ballads of the Fleet and Other Poems | |