Would throw the glamor of the seas about us
    In archipelagoes of mad romance;
    Pointing a story with a line from Shakespeare,
    Quoting a Latin proverb; while his glance,
    Flashing across the eager, listening circle,
    Fettered—­blinded—­held us in a trance.

    Their bags of Spanish gold bribed our juries,
    Bought dignified officials of the Crown;
    Money and wine were ours for the asking;
    The Orient flamed out in shawl and gown,
    Until a sudden and unholy splendor
    Irradiated all the quiet town.

    Those were the days when there was open gaming,
    And roaring song in tongue of every race. 
    Evil, as colorful as poison weeds,
    Bloomed in the market place. 
    And those who should have known, shared in the revels,
    And passed their neighbors with averted face.

    Until one day a frigate entered harbor,
    And passed the city, with a Spanish prize,
    Then insolently came-about, despoiled her,
    And fired her before our very eyes,
    While the vagrant breezes left the streaming vapor
    Like red rust on the clean steel of the skies.

    III

    All in the sullied hours,
    While the pirates stood away
    Out of the murk and horror
    In a sheer white burst of spray,

    Leaving the wreck to settle
    Under its winding sheet,
    I felt the city shudder
    And stir beneath my feet.

    Thrilling against the morning,
    As audible as song,
    I heard the city waken
    Out of her night of wrong.

    That was a day to cherish
    When Rhett and a gallant few
    Summoned the best among us;
    Called for a daring crew.

    New and raw at the business,
    To the smithy’s roar and clang,
    We drove our aching muscles
    And as we worked we sang,

    Until one blowing morning
    With summer on the sea,
    The Henry to the windward,
    The Sea Nymph down alee,

    Flecking the wide Atlantic
    With a flaring, lacy track,
    We went, as glad as the winds are glad,
    To buy our honor back.

    IV

    Over the wooded shore-line,
    Where the hidden rivers stray
    Down to the sea like timid girls,
    I saw in the first faint gray

    A burst of cloudy topsails
    Go blowing swiftly by,
    With the stars aswirl behind them
    Like bright dust down the sky.

    Gone were the days of waiting,
    And the long, blind search was gone;
    With a cheer we swung to meet them
    On the forefoot of the dawn.

    Out of the screening woodland
    Into the open sound
    The frigate crashed, then staggered
    Careening, fast aground.

    White water tugged behind us,
    We felt the Henry reel
    And spin as the hard impartial sand
    Closed on her vibrant keel.