SAILOR! if vigour nerve thy frame, If to high deeds thy soul is strung, Revere this stone that gives to fame The brave, the virtuous, and the young! -- For manly beauty deck'd his form, His bright eye beam'd with mental power; Resistless as the winter storm, Yet mild as summer's mildest shower. -- In war's hoarse rage, in ocean's strife, For skill, for force, for mercy known; Still prompt to shield a comrade's life, And greatly careless of his own. -- Yet, youthful seaman, mourn not thou The fate these artless lines recall: No, Cambrian! no, be thine the vow, Like him to live, like him to fall! But, hast thou known a father's care, Who sorrowing sent thee forth to sea; Pour'd for thy weal th' unceasing prayer, And thought the sleepless night on thee? -- Has e'er thy tender fancy flown, When winds were strong and waves were high, Where listening to the tempest's moan, Thy sisters heaved the anxious sigh? Or in the darkest hour of dread, 'Mid war's wild din, and ocean's swell, Hast mourn'd a hero brother dead, And did that brother love thee well? Then pity those whose sorrows flow In vain o'er Shipley's empty grave! -- -- Sailor, thou weep'st: -- indulge thy woe; Such tears will not disgrace the brave! -- | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SEPULCHRE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE GUARDIAN ANGEL (A PICTURE AT FANO) by ROBERT BROWNING FREEDOM AND LOVE by THOMAS CAMPBELL A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 4. REVEILLE by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN THE EMPEROR'S BIRD'S-NEST by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE LADDER OF SAINT AUGUSTINE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 51 by ALFRED TENNYSON |