Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.
By Henry HowardBrownell408 The Burial of the Dane
B
Blue sky overhead—
Muster all on the quarter,
We must bury the dead!
Rugged of front and form;
A common son of the forecastle,
Grizzled with sun and storm.
We know, and there ’s nothing more!
But perhaps his mother is waiting
In the lonely Island of Fohr.
Reason drifting awreck,
“’T is my watch,” he would mutter,
“I must go upon deck!”
But watch and lookout are done;
The Union Jack laid o’er him,
How quiet he lies in the sun!
Stay the hurrying shaft;
Let the roll of the ocean
Cradle our giant craft;
Gather around the grating,
Carry your messmate aft!
To the holiest page of prayer!
Let every foot be quiet,
Every head be bare—
The soft trade-wind is lifting
A hundred locks of hair.
(A little spray on his cheeks)
The grand old words of burial,
And the trust a true heart seeks:—
“We therefore commit his body
To the deep”—and, as he speaks,
Swift as the eye can mark,
The ghastly, shotted hammock
Plunges, away from the shark,
Down, a thousand fathoms,
Down into the dark!
The stormy Gulf shall roll
High o’er his canvas coffin;
But, silence to doubt and dole:—
There ’s a quiet harbor somewhere
For the poor aweary soul.
Speed the tireless shaft,
Loose to’gallant and topsail,
The breeze is fair abaft!
Blue sky bright o’erhead—
Every man to his duty,
We have buried our dead!