Strike top-gallants! mind your helm! jump aloft! ’Twas such a night as this, my lads, a rakish bark was drowned, When demons foul, that whisper seamen oft, Scooped a tomb amid the flashing surge that never shall be found. Square the yards! a double reef! Hark the blast! O, fiercely has it fallen on the war-ship of the brave, When its tempest fury stretched the stately mast All along her foamy sides, as they shouted on the wave, “Bear a hand!”
Call the watch! call the watch! “Ho! the larboard watch, ahoy!” Have you heard How a vessel, gay and taut, on the mountains of the sea, Went below, with all her warlike crew on board, They who battled for the happy, boys, and perished for the free? Clew, clew up, fore and aft! keep away! How the vulture bird of death, in its black and viewless form, Hovered sure o’er the clamors of his prey, While through all their dripping shrouds yelled the spirit of the storm! Bear a hand!
Now out reefs! brace the yards! lively there! O, no more to homeward breeze shall her swelling bosom spread, But love’s expectant eye bid despair Set her raven watch eternal o’er the wreck in ocean’s bed. Board your tacks! cheerly, boys! But for them, Their last evening gun is fired, their gales are overblown; O’er their smoking deck no starry flag shall stream; They’ll sail no more, they’ll fight no more, for their gallant ship’s gone down. Bear a hand!
Man the life-boat! Man the life-boat! Help, or yon ship is lost! Man the life-boat! Man the life-boat! See how she’s tempest-tossed. No human power in such an hour The gallant bark can save; Her mainmast gone, and running on, She seeks her watery grave. Man the life-boat! Man the life-boat! See, the dreaded signal flies! Ha! she’s struck, and from the wreck Despairing shouts arise.
O, speed the life-boat! Speed the life-boat! O God, their efforts crown! She dashes on; the ship is gone, Full forty fathoms down. And see, the crew are struggling now Amidst the tempest roar. They’re in the boat, they’re all afloat,-- Hurrah! they’ve gained the shore. Bless the life-boat! Bless the life-boat! O God, thou’lt hear our prayer! Bless the life-boat! Bless the life-boat! No longer we’ll despair.
My good blade carves the casques of men, My tough lance thrusteth sure, My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure. The shattering trumpet shrilleth high, The hard brands shiver on the steel, The splintered spear-shafts crack and fly, The horse and rider reel: They reel, they roll in clanging lists, And when the tide of combat stands, Perfume and flowers fall in showers, That lightly rain from ladies’ hands.