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Upon his brow he felt their breath,

And in his waving hair

;

And looked from that lone post of death,

In still, yet brave, despair;

And shouted but once more aloud:
"My father! must I stay?"

While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,

The wreathing fires made way.

They wrapped the ship in splendour wild,

They caught the flag on high,

And streamed above the gallant child,

Like banners in the sky.

Then came a burst of thunder sound-
The boy-oh! where was he?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea,

With mast and helm, and pennon" fair,
That well had borne their part—
But the noblest thing that perished there
Was that young, faithful heart.

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"Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark, Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home; 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark Our coming, and look brighter when we come.

5 When the powder magazine blew up.

The small flag at the mast-head of & ship.

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Supposed to be told by a Soldier who survived.

IGIIT on our flank the crimson sun went down;

The deep sea roll'd around in dark repose;

When, like the wild shriek from some captured town,

A cry of women rose.

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The stout ship "Birkenhead" lay hard and fast,
Caught without hope upon a hidden rock;

Iler timbers thrill'd as nerves, when through them pass'd
The spirit of that shock.

And ever like base cowards, who leave their ranks
In danger's hour, before the rush of steel,2

Drifted away, disorderly, the planks,

From underneath her keel.

So calm the air, so calm and still the flood,3,
That low down in its blue translucent glass
We saw the great fierce fish,5 that thirst for blood,
Pass slowly, then re-pass.

*The "Birkenhead" was a steam troop-ship, taking soldiers to India. It struck on a rock, in clear calm weather, and 438 officers, soldiers, and seamen were drowned. The calamity took place near Simon's Bay, at the Cape of Good Hope. The poem is written to preserve the memory of the heroism of all who perished. The soldiers and sailors stood in line, as if safe on shore, letting the women go off first in the boats, and waiting for the word of command. And, so, they all went down.

1 flank, side.

2 steel. The charge of soldiers in battle with their bayonets fixed.

3 flood, the sea.

'translucent, transparent, letting the light pass through it, like smooth glass. 5 fierce fish, sharks,

N

They tarried, the waves tarried, for their prey!
The sea turn'd one clear smile! Like things asleep
Those dark shapes in the azure silence3 lay,
As quiet as the deep.

Then amidst oath, and prayer, and rush, and wreck,
Faint screams, faint questions waiting no reply,
Our Colonel' gave the word, and on the deck
Form'd us in line to die.

To die!—'twas hard, whilst the sleek1o ocean glow'd
Beneath a sky as fair as summer flowers:-
:-
All to the boats! cried one :-he was, thank God,
No officer of ours!

Our English hearts beat true :—we would not stir:
That base appeal11 we heard, but heeded not:
On land, on sea, we had our Colours, Sir,
To keep without a spot!

They shall not say in England, that we fought,
With shameful strength, unhonour'd life to seek;
Into mean safety, mean deserters, brought,
By trampling down the weak.

So we made women, with their children, go,
The oars ply back again, and yet again;
Whilst, inch by inch, the drowning ship sank low,
Still under steadfast men.

6 tarried. The sharks waited.

8 silence. The blue, silent, sea.

1 sleek, smooth.

7 dark shapes. The sharks.

9 our Colonel.

" appeal, call.

Colonel Seaton.

-What follows, why recall ?-The brave who died,
Died without flinching in the bloody surf.12

They sleep as well, beneath that purple tide,
As others under turf :-

They sleep as well! and, roused from their wild grave,
Wearing their wounds like stars, shall rise again,
Joint-heirs with Christ, because they bled to save
His weak ones, not in vain.

49

CUMNOR HALL.*

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'HE dews of summer night did fall;
The moon, sweet Regent' of the sky,
Silver'd the walls of Cumnor Hall,2
And many an oak that grew thereby.

Now nought was heard beneath the skies;
The sounds of busy life were still,

Save an unhappy lady's sighs

That issued from that lonely pile.*

*This ballad refers to the death of Amy Robsart, first wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (pronounced Lester), who was born in 1531, and died in 1588. He was believed to have murdered the poor lady. He was a very bad

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12 bloody surf. Bloody with the mangled bodies of the men devoured by sharks.

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2 Cumnor Hall, a solitary manor house in Berkshire, not far from Oxford. It belonged to a person dependent on Leicester.

issued, came forth.

+ pile, building

"Leicester!" she cried, "is this thy love

That thou so oft hast sworn to me,
To leave me in this lonely grove,
Immured in shameful privity ?

"No more thou com'st with lover's speed
Thy once-belovèd bride to see;

But be she alive, or be she dead,

I fear, stern Earl's the same to thee.

"Not so the usage I received

When happy in my father's hall:"
No faithless husband then me grieved;
No chilling fears did me appal.8

66

"I rose up with the cheerful morn,

No lark more blithe, no flower more gay:
And like the bird that haunts the thorn,
So merrily sung, the live-long day.

"If that my beauty is but small,

Among court-ladies all despised;

Why didst thou rend❞ it from that hall
Where, scornful Earl! it well was prized?

"But Leicester (or I much am wrong),
Or 'tis not beauty lures thy vows;10
Rather, ambition's11 gilded crown

Makes thee forget thy humble spouse.12

5 immured, buried.

6 privity, secrecy.

hall, her father was Sir John Robsart, a Cornish gentleman. appal, terrify.

I vows, attracts thy heart.

12 spouse, wife.

9

rend, tear.

" ambition, desire for greatness He thought he could get Queen Elizabeth to marry him,

if his wife were out of the way.

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