Poems for the Sea/Reef Sails
"REEF SAILS."[1]
I saw a bark, with streamers gay
O'er Hymen's waters[2] sweep,
Profusion[3] dancing at the helm,
And Prudence fast asleep,—
Yet not by Labour's ancient chart
A steady course it bent,
But fed the waves with ether's[4] gold
When all its own was spent.
Reef sails![5] Reef sails!—a whirlpool's nigh
The thundering rapids sound,—
Ho!—change your reckoning, ere ye sink
In gulfs profound.
Young Beauty, in her gilded barge
Like Egypt's haughty queen[6],
For whom, 'tis said, the world was lost,[7]
With graceful form is seen;
The morn is fair, the breeze is rare,
And gliding on her way,
She deems each billow's flashing crest
To her, doth homage pay.
Reef sails! Reef sails!—I see a cloud
Athwart the noontide skies,—
A lonely strand, a wreck-strewn sand,—
Be timely wise.
Pride steers ahead, with canvas spread,
And top-mast towering high,
Regardless of the warning winds
That thro' the shrouds do sigh.
Reef sails!—'tis not for him of dust
For whom the worm doth wait,
To magnify the fleeting trust
Of wealth, or high estate.
Reef sails! Reef sails!—time's bubble breaks,
The dark grave claims its part,
And Heaven's acceptance only crowns
The lowly heart.
User annotation
[edit]- ↑ This poem, which uses maritime metaphors, is about marriage and counsels thrift and restraint in marriage. Sigourney and her husband experienced difficult financial times and it seems likely that this counsel was born of her experiences. The poem also appears in Whisper to a Bride. (Wikisource contributor note)
- ↑ This is a reference to Hymenaios, a Greek god of marriage ceremonies. Hymen's waters is a reference to marriage.
- ↑ Lavish or imprudent expenditure; extravagance.
- ↑ Ether here refers to the skies or the heavens
- ↑ Reef here means to bring down part or all of the sails. In stormy weather a sailing ship's masts could be torn off if the sails were not brought down or made smaller.
- ↑ Cleopatra
- ↑ For example, Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra: The World Well Lost.