The Shipman's Tale

Listen, my masters!    I speak naught but truth.     From dawn to dawn they drifted on and on,     Not knowing whither nor to what dark end.     Now the North froze them, now the hot South scorched.     Some called to God, and found great comfort so;     Some gnashed their teeth with curses, and some laughed     An empty laughter, seeing they yet lived,     So sweet was breath between their foolish lips.     Day after day the same relentless sun,     Night after night the same unpitying stars.     At intervals fierce lightnings tore the clouds,     Showing vast hollow spaces, and the sleet     Hissed, and the torrents of the sky were loosed.     From time to time a hand relaxed its grip,     And some pale wretch slid down into the dark     With stifled moan, and transient horror seized     The rest who waited, knowing what must be.     At every turn strange shapes reached up and clutched     The whirling wreck, held on awhile, and then     Slipt back into that blackness whence they came.     Ah, hapless folk, to be so tost and torn,     So racked by hunger, fever, fire, and wave,     And swept at last into the nameless void--     Frail girls, strong men, and mothers with their babes!     And was none saved?     My masters, not a soul!     O shipman, woful, woful is thy tale!     Our hearts are heavy and our eyes are dimmed.     What ship is this that suffered such ill fate?     What ship, my masters?    Know ye not?--The World!