Poems (Dudley)/In Sunshine and in Storm

by Marion Vienna Churchill Dudley

IN SUNSHINE AND IN STORM.

A PINNACE rode in harbor
 Freighted with light and song;
The summer winds caressed her
 The summer day was long;

A purple pennon fluttered
 From mast-head tall and proud,
Her crimson Banner billowed
 Like a fiery, sunset cloud;

And one from shore was flinging
 Cheers to the happy skies;
But one stood still in shadow
 With longing in his eyes.

Like royal bird the Pinnace
 Sailed to the eager sea;
The great, black night engulfed her
 And drowned the melody.

A storm swept down in fury,
 The purple pennon trailed
And the crimson banner's billows
 Were cut with hurtling hail.

Now white on shore with terror
 Is he who cheered in light;
But he who stood in shadow
 The life-boat pulls with might.

Down—up through seething surges
 His frail barque's fall and rise,
While burns through storm and blackness
 The fire in his longing eyes;

Nearer and nearer the Pinnace
 Through thunder and through hail;
Ah, nerved by deathless purpose
 No strong arm's strength shall fail!

****

Again in sunny harbor,
 The idol of the crowd,
The Pinnace rides in safety
 With flag and pennon proud:

Again the music pouring
 Its summer day refrain,
Speeds her outward to the ocean
 The Princess of the Main.

And proud on deck her master
 Looks up to sunny skies,
With the longing changed to triumph
 In his smiling, happy eyes;

The stately prow turns seaward,
 The white sails fill and form,
Obedient to the bidding
 Of the hero of the storm.