书城公版The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches
38634800000463

第463章 THE LAST BUCCANEER

(1839.)

The winds were yelling, the waves were swelling, The sky was black and drear, When the crew with eyes of flame brought the ship without a name Alongside the last Buccaneer.

"Whence flies your sloop full sail before so fierce a gale, When all others drive bare on the seas?

Say, come ye from the shore of the holy Salvador, Or the gulf of the rich Caribbees?""From a shore no search hath found, from a gulf no line can sound, Without rudder or needle we steer;Above, below, our bark, dies the sea-fowl and the shark, As we fly by the last Buccaneer.

"To-night there shall be heard on the rocks of Cape de Verde, A loud crash, and a louder roar;And to-morrow shall the deep, with a heavy moaning, sweep The corpses and wreck to the shore."The stately ship of Clyde securely now may ride, In the breath of the citron shades;And Severn's towering mast securely now flies fast, Through the sea of the balmy Trades.

From St Jago's wealthy port, from Havannah's royal fort, The seaman goes forth without fear;For since that stormy night not a mortal hath had sight Of the flag of the last Buccaneer....