MERCHANT NAVY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23111, 27 January 1945, Page 3

MERCHANT NAVY

Poet Laureate’s Verse

- , LONDON, Jan. 14. h J«hn MaselieM the Poet Laureate a P™ logue and epilogue in Merc h a ntmen at War,” the ?nHn s^ory of Merchant Navy, 1939-44. J

The 143-page booklet tells of extraordinary feats of bravery and fortitude Sub-headings and photographs tell a full story in themselves, but the detailed text describes many harrowing a P d he l°‘ c episodes, including the epic of the San Demetrio.

Masefields poems epitomise the book s contents. His foreword of seven verses begins:—

Even in peace scant quiet is at sea In war each revolution of the screw Each breath of air which blows the colours free, May be the last life movement known to you. And this is the last verse:— Unrecognised you put us in your debt, Unthanked, you enter or escape the grave; Whether your land remember or forget, You saved the land or died to try to save. The epilogue, written in triplets runs:— Once in a life when unprepared, Death fronted us with talons bared And dared you venture and you dared Twice in a life your hearts and hands. Have kept us among, living lands When other props collapsed as sands. By your endurances our race Stands steady in the slippery place, Where glory tramples on disgrace.