Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/192

We’ve ratched beyond the Crossets
    That tusk the Southern Pole,
And dipped our gunnels under
    To the dread Agulhas roll.

Beyond all outer charting
    We sailed where none have sailed,
And saw the land-lights burning
    On islands none have hailed;
Our hair stood up for wonder,
    But, when the night was done,
There danced the deep to windward
    Blue-empty 'neath the sun!

Strange consorts rode beside us
    And brought us evil luck;
The witch-fire climbed our channels,
    And flared on vane and truck:
Till, through the red tornado,
    That lashed us nigh to blind,
We saw The Dutchman plunging,
    Full canvas, head to wind!

We’ve heard the Midnight Leadsman
    That calls the black deep down—
Ay, thrice we've heard The Swimmer,
    The Thing that may not drown.
On frozen bunt and gasket
    The sleet-cloud drave her hosts,
When, manned by more than signed with us,
    We passed the Isle of Ghosts!

And north, amid the hummocks,
    A biscuit-toss below,
We met the silent shallop
    That frighted whalers know;