Poems (Kennedy)/Interned
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INTERNED
BY cable held and promise bound
Far from the vasty deep,
We who were free as sea birds fly
Our sullen vigil keep.
Unplumed of smoke our funnels rust,
No pulse our engines know,
And keels that joyed to cut the wave
Rock 1dly to and fro.
Far from the vasty deep,
We who were free as sea birds fly
Our sullen vigil keep.
Unplumed of smoke our funnels rust,
No pulse our engines know,
And keels that joyed to cut the wave
Rock 1dly to and fro.
Outside, beyond the harbor's mouth,
The surge of war goes by,
But here within this prison-hold
Only the curlews cry.
And ripples that a child might brave
Creep softly past, and mock
Our grim black hulls that tamed the tides
And braved the tempest's shock.
The surge of war goes by,
But here within this prison-hold
Only the curlews cry.
And ripples that a child might brave
Creep softly past, and mock
Our grim black hulls that tamed the tides
And braved the tempest's shock.
Fierce vultures of the sea we sailed
And ran our quarries down,
And dropped them to the silent caves
Where sleep the hordes who drown.
But now—weak, crippled, cabled things
Reft of our cruel might,
We curse at grating chains and yearn
For one more chance to fight.
And ran our quarries down,
And dropped them to the silent caves
Where sleep the hordes who drown.
But now—weak, crippled, cabled things
Reft of our cruel might,
We curse at grating chains and yearn
For one more chance to fight.