Its fatal path aright.
Then warmer waves gnawed at its crumbling base,
As if in piteous plea;
The ardent sun sent slow tears down its face
Soft flowing to the sea.
Dawn kissed it with her tender rose tints. Eve
Bathed it in violet,
The wistful color o'er it seemed to grieve
With a divine regret.
Whether Day clad its clefts in rainbows dim
And shadowy as a dream,
Or Night through lonely spaces saw it swim
White in the moonlight's gleam,
Ever Death rode upon its solemn heights,
Ever his watch he kept;
Cold at its heart through changing days and nights
Its changeless purpose slept.
And where afar a smiling coast it passed,
Straightway the air grew chill;
Dwellers thereon perceived a bitter blast,
A vague report of ill.
Like some imperial creature, moving slow,
Meanwhile, with matchless grace,
The stately ship, unconscious of her foe,
Drew near the trysting place.
For still the prosperous breezes followed her,
And half the voyage was o'er;
In many a breast glad thoughts began to stir
Of lands that lay before.
And human hearts with longing love were dumb,
That soon should cease to beat,
Thrilled with the hope of meetings soon to come,
And lost in memories sweet.
Was not the weltering waste of water wide
Enough for both to sail?
What drew the two together o'er the tide,
Fair ship and iceberg pale?
There came a night with neither moon nor star,
Clouds draped the sky in black;
With fluttering canvas reefed at every spar,
And weird fire in her track,
The ship swept on; a wild wind gathering fast
Drove her at utmost speed.
Bravely she bent before the fitful blast
That shook her like a reed.
O helmsman, turn thy wheel! Will no surmise
Cleave through the midnight drear?
No warning of the horrible surprise
Reach thine unconscious ear?
She rushed upon her ruin. Not a flash
Broke up the waiting dark;
Dully through wind and sea one awful crash
Sounded, with none to mark.
Scarcely her crew had time to clutch despair.
So swift the work was done:
Ere their pale lips could frame a speechless prayer,
They perished, every one!
END
About The Editor
Osie Turner is a writer, blogger, and photographer. A collector of antique books, he founded The Forlorn Press to revive forgotten classics and make them available to the modern reader.
Check his blog for his latest updates:
Theforlornpath.blogspot.com
Other titles available from The Forlorn Press:
The Blood Is The Life: An Anthology of Early Vampire Fiction - This anthology is the definitive collection of classic/early vampire fiction. It is broken into three sections: the first is for classic vampire stories, the second is dedicated to psychic vampirism, and the last contains a few stories which are frequently listed as vampire stories, but are not actually about vampires. There are a total of 18 stories, plus two appendices.
Tod Robbins: His Life and Work - This is a huge collection of the work of Tod Robbins, an overlooked author of early weird fiction, and a biography of the author. Includes the complete infamous novel The Unholy Three, among others.
The Tomb and Other Macabre Tales of Guy de Maupassant - Maupassant was one of France's most prolific writers, and is especially known for his short stories. This anthology contains his eight most bizarre stories. Invisible demons, insanity, necrophilic lovers, and furniture with a mind of its own rounds out this collection. Also included as an appendix is my essay "The Demise of Maupassant," which focuses on the events leading up to Maupassant's internment in an asylum and eventual death.
The Devil in Manuscript And Other Tales of Forbidden Books - “The Green Book,” a small, unassuming diary of a young girl; an unheard of book of the Talmud known as the “Tractate Middoth”; “The King in Yellow,” a play that drives people to insanity; two mysterious grey stone plaques from the sands of Chaldea known as the “Tablets of The Gods”; “The Confessions of Constantine,” which drives its readers into a homicidal rage—these accursed books are the subject of this collection of olden tales.
Strange Tales of the High Seas Page 38