The Burning Ship at Sea

by Seba Smith

 
  The night was clear and mild,
      And the breeze went softly by,
   And the stars of heaven smiled
      As they wandered up the sky;
And there rode a gallant ship on the wave---
   But many a hapless wight
   Slept the sleep of death that night,
   And before the morning light
                                          Found a grave!

   All were sunk in soft repose,
      Save the watch upon the deck:
   Not a boding dream arose
      Of the horrors of the wreck,
To the mother, or the child, or the sire;
   Till a shriek of woe profound,
   Like a death-knell echoed round---
   With a wild and dismal sound,
                                          A shriek of "Fire!"

   Now the flames are spreading fast---
      With resistless rage they fly,


   Up the shrouds and up the mast,
      And are flickering to the sky;
Now the deck is all a-blaze; now the rails---
   There's no place to rest their feet;
   Fore and aft the torches meet,
   And a wingèd lightning-sheet
                                          Are the sails.

   No one heard the cry of woe
      But the sea-bird that flew by;
   There was hurrying to and fro,
      But no hand to save was nigh;
Still before the burning foe they were driven---
   Last farewells were uttered there,
   With a wild and frenzied stare,
   And a short and broken prayer
                                          Sent to Heaven.

   Some leap over in the flood
      To the death that waits them there;
   Others quench the flames with blood,
      And expire in open air;
Some, a moment to escape from the grave,
   On the bowsprit take a stand;
   But their death is near at hand---
   Soon they hug the burning brand
                                          On the wave.

   From his briny ocean-bed,
      When the morning sun awoke,
   Lo, that gallant ship had fled!
      And a sable cloud of smoke
Was the monumental pyre that remained;


   But the sea gulls round it fly,
   With a quick and fearful cry,
   And the brands that floated by
                                          Blood had stained.