THE LAST CHANTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9307, 16 September 1893, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE LAST CHANTY.

" And there was no more sea." Thus said the Lord in the vault above the cherubim, Calling to the angels and the souls in their degree: " I/O ! Earth has passed away On the smoke of .Judgment Day, That our word may ha established- shall we gather up the sea Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners : " l'lagua upon the hurricanes that made us fur and flee 1 Hut the war is done between us, In the deep the Lord hath seen us — Our bones we'll leave the barracout, and God may sink the sea!" Then said the soul of Judas that betrayed Him : "Lord, ha->t thou forgotten Thy covenant with me ? How once a year I so To cool mo on the floe. And ye take my day of mercy if ye take away the sua ?" Then sAid the soul of the angel of the Of!-shoro Wind (He that bits the thunder when the bull-mouthed breakers flee): •' I hare watch and ward to keep O'er Thy wonders 011 the deep, And ye take mine honour from me if ye take away the sea!" Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners : " Nay, but we wore augry, and a hasty folk are we ! If .we worked the ship together Till who foundered in foul weather, Are we babes that we should clamour for a ven-

geance on the sea 1" Then said the souls of the slaves that men threw overboard : " Kenneled in tho piceroon a weary band were we ; but Thy arm was strong to save, And it touched us on the wave, And we drowsed the long tides idle till Thy trumpets tore the sea." Then cried the soul of the stout Apostle Paul to God: "Once we frappeil a ship, and she laboured wound ily, There were fourteen score of these. And they blessed Theo on their knees, When tjiey learned Thy grace and glory under Malta by the sea." Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners, Plucking at their harps, and they plucked unhandily: "Our thumbs are rough and tarred, And the tune is something hardMay we lift tho Dipsea Chanty such as seamen use at sea V Then said the souls of tho gentlemen adventurersFettered wrist to bar all for red iniquity : " Ho, we revel in our chains O'er the sorrow that was Spain's; Heave or sink it, leave or drink it, we are masters of the sea!" \ Up spoVe the soul of a grey Gothavn 'specksbioner— (He that led the flinching in the fleets of fair Dundee): "Ho, the ringer and right whale, And the fish we struck for sale, Will ye whelm them all for wantonness that wallow in the sea?" Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners. Crying : Under heaven, here is neither lead nor lea! Must we sing for evermore On the windlass glassy floor ? Take back your golden fiddles and we'll beat for open sea '." Then stooped the Lord, and He called the good sea up to Him, And 'stablished his borders unto all eternity, That such as have no pleasure Vox to praise the Lord by measure' They may enter into galleons and serve Him on the sea. Sun, wind, and cloud shall fail not from the face of it, ••''..'"» Stringing, ringing spindrift nor the fulmar flying free, And the ships shall go abroad To the glory of the Lord Who heard tho silly sailor men and gate them back ' their sea! Rudvabd KimJiG, in Pall Mall Magazine.