CAPTAIN, OF THE NORTHFLEET.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1537, 26 December 1873, Page 61

CAPTAIN, OF THE NORTHFLEET.

GEHAID MASSEY. So often is the proud deed done By men like this at Duty's call ; So many are the honors won By them, we cannot wear them all! They make the heroic commonplace, And, dying thus the natural way, Yet is our world-wide English race Enobled by that death to-day ! It brings the thoughts that fathom things To anchor where the billows roll; It stirs us with a sense of wings That strive to lift the earthiest soul. Love was so new and life so sweet, But at the call he left the wine And sprang full-statured to his feet, Eesponsive to the touch divine. " Nay, dear, I cannot see you die. For me I have my work to do Vj> here. Down to the boat. Good bye, God Mesa yon. I shall see it through." We read, until the vision dims Anc? drowns; but ere the pang be past, A tide of triumph overbrims And breaks with light from heaven at last. Thro' all the blackness of that night, A glory streams from out the gloom : His steadfast spirit holds the light, That shines till night is overcome. The sea will do its worst, and life Be sobbed out in a bubbling breath ; But firmly in the onward strife There stands a man who hath vanquisht Doath ! A soul that conquers wind and wave, And towers above a sinking deck ; A bridge across the gaping grave ; A rainbow rising o'er the wreck. He saved others ; saved the name Unsullied that he gave his wife : And, dying with so pure an aim, He had no need to save his life. Lord I how they shame the life we live, These sailors of our sea-girt isle, Who cheerily take Avhat Thou mayst give, And go down with a heavenward smile 1 The men who sow their lives to yield A glorious crop in lives to be ; Who turn to England's harvest field The unfruitful furrows of the sea. With such a breed of men so brave, The Old Land has not had her day; But long, her strength, with crested wave, Shall ride the seas the proud old way.