THE BALLAD OF THE

'CLAMPHERDOWN'

They cleared the cruiser end to end,

From conning-tower to hold.

They fought as they fought in Nelson's fleet;
They were stripped to the waist, they were
bare to the feet,

As it was in the days of old.

It was the sinking 'Clampherdown'
Heaved up her battered side-
And carried a million pounds in steel,
To the cod and the corpse-fed conger-eel,
And the scour of the Channel tide.

It was the crew of the 'Clampherdown'
Stood out to sweep the sea,

On a cruiser won from an ancient foe,
As it was in the days of long ago,
And as it still shall be.

S

THE BALLAD OF THE 'BOLIVAR’

(1890)

EVEN men from all the world back to Docks again,
Rolling down the Ratcliffe Road drunk and
raising Cain:

Give the girls another drink 'fore we sign away-
We that took the 'Bolivar' out across the Bay!

We put out from Sunderland loaded down with rails; We put back to Sunderland 'cause our cargo shifted; We put out from Sunderland-met the winter galesSeven days and seven nights to the Start we drifted. Racketing her rivets loose, smoke-stack white as

snow,

All the coals adrift adeck, half the rails below,
Leaking like a lobster-pot, steering like a dray—
Out we took the 'Bolivar,' out across the Bay!

One by one the Lights came up, winked and let us by;
Mile by mile we waddled on, coal and fo'c'sle short;
Met a blow that laid us down, heard a bulk-head fly;
Left the 'Wolf' behind us with a two-foot list to port.
Trailing like a wounded duck, working out her soul;
Clanging like a smithy-shop after every roll;
Just a funnel and a mast lurching through the spray-
So we threshed the 'Bolivar' out across the Bay!

THE BALLAD OF THE 'BOLIVAR'

Felt her hog and felt her sag, betted when she'd break; Wondered every time she raced if she'd stand the

shock;

Heard the seas like drunken men pounding at her strake; Hoped the Lord 'ud keep his thumb on the plummer

block.

Banged against the iron decks, bilges choked with

coal;

Flayed and frozen foot and hand, sick of heart and

soul;

Last we prayed she'd buck herself into Judgment
Day-

Hi! we cursed the 'Bolivar' knocking round the
Bay!

O her nose flung up to sky, groaning to be still

Up and down and back we went, never time for breath;

Then the money paid at Lloyd's caught her by the heel, And the stars ran round and round dancin' at our

death.

Aching for an hour's sleep, dozing off between;

Heard the rotten rivets draw when she took it

green;

Watched the compass chase its tail like a cat at play

That was on the 'Bolivar,' south across the Bay.

Once we saw between the squalls, lyin' head to swellMad with work and weariness, wishin' they was weSome damned Liner's lights go by like a grand hotel; Cheered her from the 'Bolivar' swampin' in the sea.

Then a grayback cleared us out, then the skipper laughed;

'Boys, the wheel has gone to Hell-rig the winches
aft!

Yoke the kicking rudder-head-get her under way!'
So we steered her, pully-haul, out across the Bay!

Just a pack o' rotten plates puttied up with tar,
In we came, an' time enough, 'cross Bilbao Bar.
Overloaded, undermanned, meant to founder, we
Euchred God Almighty's storm, bluffed the Eternal
Sea!

Seven men from all the world, back to town again,
Rollin' down the Ratcliffe Road drunk and raising Cain:
Seven men from out of Hell. Ain't the owners gay,
'Cause we took the 'Bolivar' safe across the Bay?

E

THE SACRIFICE OF ER-HEB

(1887)

R-HEB beyond the Hills of Ao-Safai

Bears witness to the truth, and Ao-Safai

Hath told the men of Gorukh. Thence the tale

Comes westward o'er the peaks to India.

The story of Bisesa, Armod's child,-
A maiden plighted to the Chief in War,
The Man of Sixty Spears, who held the Pass
That leads to Thibet, but to-day is gone
To seek his comfort of the God called Budh
The Silent showing how the Sickness ceased
Because of her who died to save the tribe.

Taman is One and greater than us all,
Taman is One and greater than all Gods:
Taman is Two in One and rides the sky,

Curved like a stallion's croup, from dusk to dawn,
And drums upon it with his heels, whereby
Is bred the neighing thunder in the hills.

This is Taman, the God of all Er-Heb,
Who was before all Gods, and made all Gods,
And presently will break the Gods he made,
And step upon the Earth to govern men