The Mayflower
by Erastus Wolcott Ellsworth (1822-1902) |
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Down in the bleak December bay
The ghostly vessel
stands away;
Her spars and halyards white with ice,
Under the dark December skies.
A hundred souls, in
company,
Have left the vessel pensively,
Have touched
the frosty desert there,
And touched it with the knees of
prayer.
And now the day begins to dip,
The night
begins to lower
Over the bay, and over the ship
Mayflower.
Neither the desert nor the sea
Imposes
rites: their prayers are free;
Danger and toil the wild
imposes,
And thorns must grow before the roses.
And
who are these?�and what distress
The savage-acred
wilderness
On mother, maid, and child, may bring,
Beseems them for a fearful thing;
For now the day begins
to dip,
The night begins to lower
Over the bay, and
over the ship
Mayflower.
But Carver leads (in
heart and health
A hero of the commonwealth)
The axes
that the camp requires,
To build the lodge and heap the
fires.
And Standish from his warlike store
Arrays his
men along the shore,
Distributes weapons resonant,
And
dons his harness militant;
For now the day begins to dip,
The night begins to lower
Over the bay, and over the ship
Mayflower;
And Rose, his wife, unlocks a chest�
She sees a Book, in vellum drest,
She drops a tear and
kisses the tome,
Thinking of England and of home:
Might they�the Pilgrims, there and then
Ordained to do
the work of men�
Have seen, in visions of the air,
While pillowed on the breast of prayer
(When now the day
began to dip,
The night began to lower
Over the bay,
and over the ship
Mayflower),
The Canaan of their
wilderness
A boundless empire of success;
And seen the
years of future nights
Jewelled with myriad
household lights;
And seen the honey fill the hive;
And seen a thousand ships arrive;
And heard the wheels of
travel go;
It would have cheered a thought of woe.
When now the day began to dip,
The night began to lower
Over the bay, and over the ship
Mayflower. |
By Erastus Wolcott Ellsworth (1822-1902)
Listed December 5, 2012 |
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