Volume Iii Part 74 (2/2)

Within it are three men; to these repair In our frail bark of Fancy, swift as air!

They are but shadows, as the rower grim Took none but shadows in his boat with him.

So be _ye_ shades, and, for a little s.p.a.ce, The real world a dream without a trace.

Return is easy. It will have ye back Too soon to the old beaten dusty track; For but one hour forget it. Billows rise, Blow winds, fall rain, be black ye midnight skies; And you who watch the light, arise! arise!

[_Exterior view rises and discovers the scene._

THE SONG OF THE WRECK.

I.

The wind blew high, the waters raved, A s.h.i.+p drove on the land, A hundred human creatures saved, Kneeled down upon the sand.

Threescore were drowned, threescore were thrown Upon the black rocks wild, And thus among them, left alone, They found one helpless child.

II.

A seaman rough, to s.h.i.+pwreck bred, Stood out from all the rest, And gently laid the lonely head Upon his honest breast.

And travelling o'er the desert wide, It was a solemn joy, To see them, ever side by side, The sailor and the boy.

III.

In famine, sickness, hunger, thirst, The two were still but one, Until the strong man drooped the first, And felt his labours done.

Then to a trusty friend he spake, ”Across the desert wide, O take this poor boy for my sake!”

And kissed the child and died.

IV.

Toiling along in weary plight, Through heavy jungle, mire, These two came later every night To warm them at the fire.

Until the captain said one day, ”O seaman good and kind, To save thyself now come away, And leave the boy behind!”

V.

The child was slumb'ring near the blaze, ”O captain, let him rest Until it sinks, when G.o.d's own ways Shall teach us what is best!”

They watched the whitened ashy heap, They touched the child in vain; They did not leave him there asleep, He never woke again.

This song was sung to the music of ”Little Nell,” a ballad composed by the late Mr. George Linley, to the words of Miss Charlotte Young, and dedicated to Charles d.i.c.kens. He was very fond of it, and his eldest daughter had been in the habit of singing it to him constantly since she was quite a child.

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