Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.
By Lines on Byless VoyageJoseph Green (17061780)
I
Byles found one morning at his tea,
Alas! that he should never write
A proper psalm to sing at sea.
Ambitious thoughts at length prevail’d.
The bard determined to complete
The part wherein the prophet fail’d.
Then taking up his tuneful pen,
Wrote a few stanzas for the use
Of his seafaring brethren.
Well chosen was each flowing word;
On a short voyage himself he went,
To hear it read and sung on board.
(Their credit sure we may rely on,)
In former times that after prayer,
They used to sing a song of Zion.
Unless loud fame our faith beguiles,
Sat down, took out his book and said,
“Let ’s sing a psalm of Mather Byles.”
Their heads the assembly downward hung.
But he with boldness did proceed,
And thus he read, and thus they sung.
The wonders of the deep,
Where mackerel swim, and porpoise play,
And crabs and lobsters creep.
And throng the dark abode.
Here haddock, hake, and flounders are,
And eels, and perch, and cod,
So smoothly as we pass,
The shining surface seems to be
A piece of Bristol glass.
And foaming billows swell,
The vessel mounts above the skies,
And lower sinks than hell.
And quickly we become
Giddy as new-dropp’d calves, and reel
Like Indians drunk with rum.
Thus far have safely got,
Amarescoggin tribe to see,
And tribe of Penobscot.