Walter Murdoch (1874–1970). The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. 1918.
By Blanche Edith Baughan124 . The Mary Ross
‘W
‘Ever I had at sea?’
There was that in the wreck of the Mary Ross
Is bitten into me.
A ship well mann’d and stout—
One hour from home she falter’d, stopp’d
Short … and the lights went out.
How firm must be Thy mind,
Such a beginning to have given
And such an end design’d!
And kindred human breath,
Into the wild black Void, into
The unthought-on fangs of Death…
Again, and something cross’d
My clutching fingers; with a spar
Now was I driven and toss’d.
No answer … Dazed and stark,
Moments it may have been, or hours,
Dash’d thro’ the roaring dark.
And touch’d Eternity,
When, high in the air, a cry, a wail:
‘I am afraid! Save me!’
Bulged out upon the gloom?
By the glint of the whirling spray I saw
Her lifted stern-post loom.
O’er the yeasty glimmer wild?
Terribly flashed the hasty moon
On—the face of a little child!
I’d seen! Aye, all too clear
I see her still—the piteous mouth,
The great eyes fixt with fear.
Her good-night pranks were play’d,
And now—to face Death … and alone…
God! and afraid? ‘Afraid!’
The help that I could not give.
The wind drove back my words—the waves
Drove on their fugitive.
For one mad second’s space,
’Mid the rushing rack the quiet moon,
’Mid the wide void, that face!
Stretch’d out her arms and cried,
‘Save me!’ and half my name—and then…
Then she was pacified.
Naught, save the stormy roar!
Down in the darkness I thank’d God.
She was afraid no more.