Page:The Seaside and the Fireside.djvu/40

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
18
By the Seaside.
And around it columns of smoke, upwreathing,Rose from the boiling, bubbling, seethingCaldron, that glowed,And overflowedWith the black tar, heated for the sheathing.And amid the clamorsOf clattering hammers,He who listened heard now and thenThe song of the Master and his men:—
“ Build me straight, O worthy Master,Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel,That shall laugh at all disaster,And with wave and whirlwind wrestle! ”
With oaken brace and copper band,Lay the rudder on the sand,That, like a thought, should have controlOver the movement of the whole;