THE PALATINE.
39
The eager islanders one by one
Counted the shots of her signal gun,
And heard the crash when she drove right on!
Counted the shots of her signal gun,
And heard the crash when she drove right on!
Into the teeth of death she sped:
(May God forgive the hands that fed
The false lights over the rocky Head!)
(May God forgive the hands that fed
The false lights over the rocky Head!)
O men and brothers! what sights were there!
White, upturned faces, hands stretched in prayer!
Where waves had pity, could ye not spare?
White, upturned faces, hands stretched in prayer!
Where waves had pity, could ye not spare?
Down swooped the wreckers, like birds of prey,
Tearing the heart of the ship away,
And the dead had never a word to say.
Tearing the heart of the ship away,
And the dead had never a word to say.
And then, with ghastly shimmer and shine,
Over the rocks and the seething brine,
They burned the wreck of the Palatine.
Over the rocks and the seething brine,
They burned the wreck of the Palatine.
In their cruel hearts, as they homeward sped,
"The sea and the rocks are dumb," they said;
"There'll be no reckoning with the dead."
"The sea and the rocks are dumb," they said;
"There'll be no reckoning with the dead."
But the year went round, and when once more
Along their foam-white curves of shore
They heard the line-storm rave and roar,
Along their foam-white curves of shore
They heard the line-storm rave and roar,
Behold! again, with shimmer and shine,
Over the rocks and the seething brine,
The flaming wreck of the Palatine!
Over the rocks and the seething brine,
The flaming wreck of the Palatine!
