WHEREFORE?
Black sea, black sky! A ponderous steamship driving
Between them, laboring westward on her way,
And in her path a trap of Death's contriving
Waiting remorseless for its easy prey.
Between them, laboring westward on her way,
And in her path a trap of Death's contriving
Waiting remorseless for its easy prey.
Hundreds of souls within her frame lie dreaming,
Hoping and fearing, longing for the light:
With human life and thought and feeling teeming,
She struggles onward through the starless night.
Hoping and fearing, longing for the light:
With human life and thought and feeling teeming,
She struggles onward through the starless night.
Upon her furnace fires fresh fuel flinging,
The swarthy firemen grumble at the dust
Mixed with the coal—when suddenly upspringing,
Swift through the smoke-stack like a signal thrust,
The swarthy firemen grumble at the dust
Mixed with the coal—when suddenly upspringing,
Swift through the smoke-stack like a signal thrust,
Flares a red flame, a dread illumination!
A cry,—a tumult! Slowly to her helm
The vessel yields, 'mid shouts of acclamation,
And joy and terror all her crew o'erwhelm;
A cry,—a tumult! Slowly to her helm
The vessel yields, 'mid shouts of acclamation,
And joy and terror all her crew o'erwhelm;
