Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Lyrics and Verse Tales. V. A Sea StoryEmily H. Hickey (18451924)
S
Shrieks went up piercingly;
But now is the ship gone down;
Good ship, well manned, was she.
There’s a raft that’s a chance of life for one,
This day upon the sea.
Young, strong, are he and he,
Just in the manhood prime,
The comelier, verily,
For the wrestle with wind and weather and wave
In the life upon the sea.
And little children three;
Two that can toddle and lisp;
And a suckling on the knee;
Naked they’ll go and hunger sore,
If he be lost at sea.
A dream that well may be;
He never has breathed it yet;
She never has known it, she.
But some one will be sick at heart,
If he be lost at sea.
Wife, kids nor home has he!—
Give us a chance, Bill!” Then,
“All right, Jem!” Quietly
A man gives up his life for a man,
This day upon the sea.