Poems (Kennedy)/Interned
INTERNED
BY cable held and promise bound Far from the vasty deep,We who were free as sea birds fly Our sullen vigil keep.Unplumed of smoke our funnels rust, No pulse our engines know,And keels that joyed to cut the wave Rock 1dly to and fro.
Outside, beyond the harbor's mouth, The surge of war goes by,But here within this prison-hold Only the curlews cry. And ripples that a child might brave Creep softly past, and mockOur grim black hulls that tamed the tides And braved the tempest's shock.
Fierce vultures of the sea we sailed And ran our quarries down,And dropped them to the silent caves Where sleep the hordes who drown.But now—weak, crippled, cabled things Reft of our cruel might,We curse at grating chains and yearn For one more chance to fight.