Poems (David)/Lines on reading a passage in Percival Keene

by Edith Mary David

LINES ON READING A PASSAGE IN PERCIVAL KEENE.

BEHOLD! her native shore she leaves,
Her pennon fluttering in the breeze;
In all the pomp of fair array,
The frigate speeds upon her way!
The cable coiled, the anchor heaved,
She roves the mistress of the seas.
The harbour mouth is out of sight,
Yet like some venturous errant knight,
On some adventure deep intent,
Onward the gallant frigate went.
She spurns the billows' snowy crest,
And skims across the ocean's breast!
And as the frigate speeds along
All blithely rings the sailor's song.
Borne sweetly on the summer breeze,
O'er the sun-lit and rippling seas!
A week has passed, and midst the gale,
With shattered mast and riven sail,
The once proud frigate lies upon the deep,
O'er her the angry billows sweep.
Fear alas! now sits on every face,
As they gaze on the watery waste.
Well may they quail in this sinking ship,
With trembling heart and quivering lip.
Every hour they expect to be,
Struggling amidst the raging sea!
Are there no sails, no shore in sight
To raise a hope, however slight?
The Captain's look but speaks the state
Of the frigate's crew, and their hapless fate!