Poems (Davidson)/On the Crew of a Vessel who were found Dead at Sea

by Lucretia Maria Davidson

ON THE CREW OF A VESSEL

 

WHO WERE FOUND DEAD AT SEA.

The breeze blew fair, the waving sea
 Curled sparkling round the vessel's side;
The canvas spread 'with bosom free
 Its swan-like pinions o'er the tide.

Evening had gemmed with glittering stars
 Her coronet so darkly grand;
The Queen of Night, with fleecy clouds,
 Had formed her turban's snowy band.

On, on the stately vessel flew,
 With streamer waving far and wide;
When lo! a bark appeared in view,
 And gayly danced upon the tide.

Each way the breeze its wild wing veered,
 That way the stranger vessel turned;
Now near she drew, now wafted far,
 She fluttered, trembled, and returned.

"It is the pirates' cursed bark!
 The villains linger to decoy!
Thus bounding o'er the waters dark,
 They seek to lure, and then destroy.

"Perchance those strange and wayward signs
 May be the signals of distress,"
The Captain cried, "for mark ye, now,
 Her sails are flapping wide and loose."

And now the stranger vessel came
 Near to that gay and gallant bark;
It seemed a wanderer far and lone,
 Upon life's wave, so deep and dark.

And not a murmur, not a sound,
 Came from that lone and dreary ship;
The icy chains of silence bound
 Each rayless eye and pallid lip.

For Death's wing had been waving there,
 The cold dew hung on every brow,
And sparkled there like angel tears,
 Shed o'er the silent crew below.

Onward that ship was gayly flying,
 Its bosom was the sailor's grave;
The breeze 'mid the shrouds, in low notes, sighing
 Their requiem over the brave.

Fly on, fly on, thou lone vessel of death,
 Fly on with thy desolate crew;
For mermaids are twining a sea-weed wreath,
 'Mong the red coral groves for you.