All his hope is a fear-whipped whim, All directions are one to him. There are seekers of wisdom no less absurd, Son Hang, than thy fish that would be a bird. JOHN GRAY MESSMATES He gave us all a good-bye cheerily We dropped him down the side full drearily It's a dead dark watch that he's a-keeping there, He's there alone with green seas rocking him He's there alone with dumb things mocking him, It's a long, lone watch that he's a-keeping there, I wonder if the tramps come near enough— And the battleship's bells ring clear enough To be heard down below; If through all the lone watch that he's a-keeping there, And the long, cold night that lags a-creeping there The voices of the sailor-men shall comfort him When the great ships go by. HENRY NEWBOLT FROM KING RICHARD III. I SAW a thousand fearful wrecks; All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea. Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes And mock'd the dead bones that were scatter'd by. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE WORLD BELOW THE BRINE THE world below the brine, Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves, Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangles, openings and pink turf, Different colours, pale grey and green, purple, white and gold, the play of light through the water, Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass, rushes, and the aliment of the swimmers, Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling close to the bottom, The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, or disporting with his flukes, The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard, and the sting-ray, Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those oceandepths, breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do, The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed by beings like us who walk this sphere, The change onward from ours to that of beings who walk other spheres. WALT WHITMAN SONG FROM THE TEMPEST FULL fathom five thy father lies; Hark! now I hear them-ding-dong, bell. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE PIPER OF ARLL THERE was in Arll a little cove Where the salt wind came cool and free: A brook hung sparkling on the hill, There were three pines above the comb A piper lived within the grove, His heart was swayed with faithful love, And there a ship one evening stood, About the coming on of dew, The piper heard an outland tongue, And leaning on the gunwales dark, When the sweet airs had fled away, Of lonely love and longed for death. When the fair sound began to lull, Then from the dark and dreary deck, Beneath the stars each sent to each Still as a dream till nearly dawn, Then shaking out her lawny sails, And when he woke he saw the ship, He threw his mantle on the beach, He broke his human-throated reed, He mended well the patient flue, A melody began to drip That mingled with a ghostly thrill The secret of his broken will. Beneath the pines he piped and swayed, He, singing into nature's heart, ! |