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the last of the gascoignes.
"Where, oh! where am I?" he now slowly said,
"Are all my loved shipmates mingled with the dead?"
"Oh! Duncan, and have you too forgotten me?
Has Norman Gascoigne ne'er been thought of by thee?
Have all the dreams of our happy by-gone day
Already faded from thy thoughtless brain away?
Oh! that the sad past I might again recall,
I fear 'tis now too late!—I shudder at my fall."
"Norman, can you forgive poor Duncan Leigh?
A poor foolish youth, who ran away to sea."
"Forgive thee, Duncan, oh! that I can, and will,
And with an old friend's love, cherish thee still,
For time and distance, they ne'er could part
Thy memory, dear Duncan, from my fond heart."
He answered not, the gentle pressure of his hand
His old playmate could very plainly understand.
Slowly now once more his eyes he calmly closed,
And gently sank again into a sweet repose!
Alone! yes alone, the wild ocean all around,
With only its wild, hollow, and requiem sound;
The fierce sun is high in the cloudless sky,
Alone! on the deep these sad wrecked ones lie!
Hopeless, yet still hoping help might be near,
Each trembling alike, 'twixt hope and fear!—
"Are all my loved shipmates mingled with the dead?"
"Oh! Duncan, and have you too forgotten me?
Has Norman Gascoigne ne'er been thought of by thee?
Have all the dreams of our happy by-gone day
Already faded from thy thoughtless brain away?
Oh! that the sad past I might again recall,
I fear 'tis now too late!—I shudder at my fall."
"Norman, can you forgive poor Duncan Leigh?
A poor foolish youth, who ran away to sea."
"Forgive thee, Duncan, oh! that I can, and will,
And with an old friend's love, cherish thee still,
For time and distance, they ne'er could part
Thy memory, dear Duncan, from my fond heart."
He answered not, the gentle pressure of his hand
His old playmate could very plainly understand.
Slowly now once more his eyes he calmly closed,
And gently sank again into a sweet repose!
Alone! yes alone, the wild ocean all around,
With only its wild, hollow, and requiem sound;
The fierce sun is high in the cloudless sky,
Alone! on the deep these sad wrecked ones lie!
Hopeless, yet still hoping help might be near,
Each trembling alike, 'twixt hope and fear!—
