Page:Poems, new and old (IA poemsnewold00newb).pdf/23

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

IV

The Little Admiral

Stand by to reckon up your battleships—
Ten, twenty, thirty, there they go.
Brag about your cruisers like Leviathans—
A thousand men a-piece down below.
But here's just one little Admiral—
We're all of us his brothers and his sons,
And he's worth, O he's worth at the very least
Double all your tons and all your guns,
Stand by, etc.

See them on the forebridge signalling—
A score of men a-hauling hand to hand,
And the whole fleet flying like the wild geese
Moved by some mysterious command.
Where's the mighty will that shows the way to them,
The mind that sees ahead so quick and clear
He's there, Sir, walking all alone there—
The little man whose voice you never hear
Stand by, etc.

7