10 THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS 1 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW It was the schooner Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea; And the skipper had taken his little daughtër, Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax,2 Her cheeks like the dawn of day, And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds, The skipper he stood beside the helm, His pipe was in his mouth, And he watched how the veering flaw did blow Then up and spake an old sailör, "I pray thee, put into yonder port, "Last night, the moon had a golden ring, The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe, And a scornful laugh laughed he. 1. It will be noted that in many respects this poem is like "Sir Patrick Spence." 2. Fairy-flax. The blossom of the flax is blue. 3. Spanish Main. The portion of the Caribbean Sea along the northern coast of South America; at first the name was applied to the land. Colder and colder blew the wind, A gale from the Northeast, And the billows frothed like yeast. Down came the storm, and smote amain The vessel in its strength; She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed, Then leaped her cable's length. "Come hither! come hither! my little daughter, And do not tremble so; For I can weather the roughest gale That ever wind did blow." He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat He cut a rope from a broken spar, And bound her to the mast. "O father! I hear the church bells ring; Oh, say, what may it be?" "'Tis a fog bell on a rock-bound coast!”And he steered for the open sea. "O father! I hear the sound of guns; "O father! I see a gleaming light; Oh, say, what may it be?" But the father answered never a word, A frozen corpse was he. Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark, With his face turned to the skies, The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow On his fixed and glassy eyes. Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed That saved she might be; And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave, On the Lake of Galilee. And fast through the midnight dark and drear, And ever the fitful gusts between It was the sound of the trampling surf The breakers were right beneath her bows, And a whooping billow swept the crew She struck where the white and fleecy waves But the cruel rocks, they gored her side Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice, Like a vessel of glass, she strove and sank, 4. Norman's Woe. A reef in West Gloucester Harbor, Mass. At daybreak on the bleak sea-beach, To see the form of a maiden fair, The salt sea was frozen on her breast, The salt tears in her eyes; And he saw her hair, like the brown seaweed Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, Christ save us all from a death like this, 11 LOCHINVAR SIR WALTER SCOTT Oh, young Lochinvar is come out of the west, So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, He stayed not for brake,1 and he stopped not for stone; The bride had consented, the gallant came late; 1. Brake. Thicket; brushwood. So boldly he entered the Netherby hall, 'Mong bridesmen and kinsmen and brothers and all: Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword (For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word), "Oh, come ye in peace here, or come ye in war, Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar ?" "I long wooed your daughter, my suit you denied ;- The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up: So stately his form, and so lovely her face, One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear, near; So light to the croupe3 the fair lady he swung, So light to the saddle before her he sprung! 2. Galliard. An old gay and lively dance. 3. Croupe. The portion of a horse's back behind the saddle. |