GHOST SHIPS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13299, 7 February 1914, Page 10

GHOST SHIPS.

A warmyw-ind creeps up the long lagoon,. Where the lover's" barque mocks the /prying moon, ' And '■& ' swift light searches th_ sleeping bay -■-.'.'.■ „■' • r,-\ :.":-•■-' .. ■• .-■ -~VAs the . great . white steamer, slips away, Her course sure-compassed, her fteg£ unfurled, ' : '': : ""\.' Her haven the door of the wide West world.. :.-- Behind the bay lies the roystering town, Where the oath goes up and the drink' goes d0wn;'. ...... Where living is lawless and love is rare, Where lust takes license and fraud sets snare; Where the church-tower shadows the bawdy 'inn, . - • And the!, sputtering street lamps wink at sin. ..., ' ■•■-;. I From the, headland s^B'guant squadrons j pass, - . While; the warm wind whispers vamong ; . . the grass, Their .sails pi this floating mists are made, ' iAnd they vglide to, the East- m gloom :'- arrayed, . ,•; . '■'" ' ,'.': v- :'< : When. the-: west wind drives at the death ' of day, ; • And the moon-led mariner churns the _pray.-' , q <- '■' -'•-* „ There's 'gold m the ' gleam of their \ glancrng ligh.ts iAs they cruise round the quiet bfiy o' I nights,/* :'r\- ■ [There's a. clean-keeled cutter, which carried Drake, .Still sailing the sea, for 4 the old , time's '? sake;./.. - _ .-! , ...... "And yonder a' clipper, colored with > . b100d,.: •" V -'■■'. /From Ijhe ■ crew, of Commodore Collingi . ."■ wood. •':>.' ■ / . : ;. i ■ ' \ ■' ' >See the 'white foam .fly m a forward line When a ghostly hand waves a,, white (. #i ensign, :,!/•..,;' |Ahd' the grey fleet glide from the twilit *■ . shore . . . " [Though it sliake_ no sail and* it sowings [_ no 'oar,' . ... „■>■ at. furrows the face of the frothing, -sea/ fßut_its hav.ejv.is where it used to be. . ■• 1-, '■'.' : '' " E?-he quaint, .aid quay with its crumbling, posts, . ' s agat-hering, ground for gallant ghosts, {The' cl\ft"s stand guard o'er the harbor I P°°l Where the mermaids keep hot memories | -cool: ,-' .. j And the.'wieak waves ebb : r ahd the wild }• wiiv.es flow, put forever . the grey x ships ''dome' and ] SO.-'.:" -' - ' " ,V " When the- paddles, pause. and the syrens '! sleep,"' IThey ride m the roads while their capt tains weep, /hen the- liners struggle, with straining speed hey seek safe anchorage m the weed, And tho vseV- shuts over them with a t . sigh For the lore that must long with -their ! timbers lie. - From cliff . unto bay and from bay to ■?' pier, . f .<..._..: By. moonlight they marshal from year to I year, Put if they should hear their crew make j wail-. 1 ' - Then woo for the morrow's murderous 1 tale, .'.'■.. |"or tbe dead ships guard where the live ji ships go signal above what they see below. j — Gv H: NETTLE.