Or, “Damn it all, it’s what we’ve all to face!... I knew another fellow one time ...” then Came a strange tale of death in a strange place Out on the sea, in ships, with wandering men. In many ways Death puts us into pen. The reefers came down tired and looked and slept. Below the skylight little dribbles crept. Along the painted woodwork, glistening, slow, Following the roll and dripping, never fast, But dripping on the quiet form below, Like passing time talking to time long past. And all night long “Ai, ai!” went the wind’s blast, And creaming water swished below the pale, Unheeding body stretched beneath the sail. At dawn they sewed him up, and at eight bells They bore him to the gangway, wading deep, Through the green-clutching, white-toothed water-hells That flung his carriers over in their sweep. They laid an old red ensign on the heap, And all hands stood bare-headed, stooping, swaying, Washed by the sea while the old man was praying Out of a borrowed prayer-book. At a sign They twitched the ensign back and tipped the grating. A creamier bubbling broke the bubbling brine. The muffled figure tilted to the weighting; It dwindled slowly down, slowly gyrating. Some craned to see; it dimmed, it disappeared; The last green milky bubble blinked and cleared. “Mister, shake out your reefs,” the Captain called. “Out topsail reefs!” the Mate cried; then all hands Hurried, the great sails shook, and all hands hauled, Singing that desolate song of lonely lands, Of how a lover came in dripping bands, Green with the wet and cold, to tell his lover That Death was in the sea, and all was over. Fair came the falling wind; a seaman said The Dauber was a Jonah; once again The clipper held her course, showing red lead, Shattering the sea-tops into golden rain. The waves bowed down before her like blown grain; Onwards she thundered, on; her voyage was short, Before the tier’s bells rang her into port. Cheerly they rang her in, those beating bells, The new-come beauty stately from the sea, Whitening the blue heave of the drowsy swells, Treading the bubbles down. With three times three They cheered her moving beauty in, and she Came to her berth so noble, so superb; Swayed like a queen, and answered to the curb. Then in the sunset’s flush they went aloft, And unbent sails in that most lovely hour, When the light gentles and the wind is soft, And beauty in the heart breaks like a flower. Working aloft they saw the mountain tower, Snow to the peak; they heard the launchmen shout; And bright along the bay the lights came out.