Hesperus Rex

Nothing So Aggravates an Earnest Person as a Passive Resistance

2008-04-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

Oh, give me again the rover's life--the joy, the thrill, the whirl!

Let me feel thee again, old sea! Let me leap into thy saddle once more.

I am sick of these terra firma toils and cares; sick of the dust and reek of towns.

Let me hear the clatter of hailstones on icebergs, and not the dull tramp of these plodders, plodding their dull way from their cradles to their graves.
Let me snuff thee up, sea-breeze! and whinny in thy spray.

Forbid it, sea-gods! intercede for me with Neptune, O sweet Amphitrite, that no dull clod may fall on my coffin!

Be mine the tomb that swallowed up Pharaoh and all his hosts;

...let me lie down with Drake, where he sleeps in the sea.

Old, Age Ship & Crafty Death's

2007-08-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

FROM east and west across the horizon's edge,

Two mighty masterful vessels sailers steal upon us:
But we'll make race a-time upon the seas - a battle-contest yet! bear
lively there!

(Our joys of strife and derring-do to the last!)
Put on the old ship all her power to-day!

Crowd top-sail, top-gallant and royal studding-sails,
Out challenge and defiance - flags and flaunting pennants added,
As we take to the open - take to the deepest, freest waters.

Oh God- Your Sea Is So Great...

2007-07-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too:
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze--
On me alone it blew.

And the ancient Mariner beholdeth his native country.

Oh ! dream of joy ! is this indeed
The light-house top I see?
Is this the hill ? is this the kirk ?
Is this mine own countree ?

We drifted o'er the harbour-
bar,And I with sobs did pray--
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.

But soon I heard the dash of oars,
I heard the Pilot's cheer;
My head was turned perforce away
And I saw a boat appear.

...and My Boat So Small.

2007-07-13T03:15:00.000-07:00

`Dear Lord ! it hath a fiendish look--
(The Pilot made reply)
I am a-feared'--`Push on, push on !'
Said the Hermit cheerily.

The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirred;
The boat came close beneath the ship,
And straight a sound was heard.

The ship suddenly sinketh.

Under the water it rumbled on,
Still louder and more dread:
It reached the ship, it split the bay;
The ship went down like lead.

Raft of the Medusa

2007-06-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

Disastrous day! what ruin hast thou bred!
What anguish to the living and the dead!
How hast thou left the widow all-forlorn,
And ever doom'd the orphan child to mourn;
Thro' life's sad journey hopeless to complain!
Can sacred Justice these events ordain?
But, O my soul! avoid that wondrous maze
Where Reason, lost in endless error, strays!
As thro' this thorny vale of life we run,
Great CAUSE of all effects, Thy will be done!

"WRECK OF THE HESPERUS"

2007-06-09T02:36:00.000-07:00

It was the schooner Hesperus,
That sailed the wintery sea;
And the skipper had taken his little daughter,
To bear him company

Blue were her eyes as the fairy flax,
Her cheeks like the dawn of day,
And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds,
That ope in the month of May

The Skipper he stood beside the helm,
His pipe was in his mouth,
And he watched how the veering flaw did blow
The smoke now West, now South.

Then up and spake an old Sailor,
Had sailed the Spanish Main,
"I pray thee, put into yonder port,
for I fear a hurricane.

"Last night the moon had a golden ring,
And to-night no moon we see!"
The skipper, he blew whiff from his pipe,
And a scornful laugh laughed he.

Colder and louder blew the wind,
A gale from the Northeast,
The snow fell hissing in the brine,
And the billows frothed like yeast.

Down came the storm, and smote amain
The vessel in its strength;
She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed,
Then leaped her cable's length.

"Come hither! come hither! my little daughter,
And do not tremble so;
For I can weather the roughest gale
That ever wind did blow."

He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat
Against the stinging blast;
He cut a rope from a broken spar,
And bound her to the mast.

"O father! I hear the church bells ring,
Oh, say, what may it be?"
"Tis a fog-bell on a rock bound coast!" --
And he steered for the open sea.

"O father! I hear the sound of guns;
Oh, say, what may it be?"
Some ship in distress, that cannot live
In such an angry sea!"

"O father! I see a gleaming light.
Oh say, what may it be?"
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he.

Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark,
With his face turned to the skies,
The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow
On his fixed and glassy eyes.

Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed
That saved she might be;
And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave,
On the Lake of Galilee.

And fast through the midnight dark and drear,
Through the whistling sleet and snow,
Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept
Tow'rds the reef of Norman's Woe.

And ever the fitful gusts between
A sound came from the land;
It was the sound of the trampling surf,
On the rocks and hard sea-sand.

The breakers were right beneath her bows,
She drifted a dreary wreck,
And a whooping billow swept the crew
Like icicles from her deck.

She struck where the white and fleecy waves
Looked soft as carded wool,
But the cruel rocks, they gored her side
Like the horns of an angry bull.

Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice,
With the masts went by the board;
Like a vessel of glass, she stove and sank,
Ho! ho! the breakers roared!

At daybreak, on the bleak sea-beach,
A fisherman stood aghast,
To see the form of a maiden fair,
Lashed close to a drifting mast.

The salt sea was frozen on her breast,
The salt tears in her eyes;
And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed,
On the billows fall and rise.

Such was the wreck of the Hesperus,
In the midnight and the snow!
Christ save us all from a death like this,
On the reef of Norman's Woe!

For title meanings click here

Sic Semper Tyrannis

2007-06-09T02:33:00.000-07:00

The salt sea was frozen on her breast,
The salt tears in her eyes;
And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed,
On the billows fall and rise.

Shall Not Perish

2007-06-09T02:30:00.000-07:00

At daybreak, on the bleak sea-beach,
A fisherman stood aghast,
To see the form of a maiden fair,
Lashed close to a drifting mast.

Watchful Waiting

2007-06-09T02:25:00.000-07:00

Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice,
With the masts went by the board;
Like a vessel of glass, she stove and sank,
Ho! ho! the breakers roared!

Steel True and Blade Straight

2007-06-09T02:19:00.000-07:00

She struck where the white and fleecy waves
Looked soft as carded wool,
But the cruel rocks, they gored her side
Like the horns of an angry bull.

Veritas Vincit

2007-06-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

The breakers were right beneath her bows,
She drifted a dreary wreck,
And a whooping billow swept the crew
Like icicles from her deck.

Potentia Tenebras Repellendi

2007-06-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

And ever the fitful gusts between
A sound came from the land;
It was the sound of the trampling surf,
On the rocks and hard sea-sand.

Semper Optima

2007-06-09T01:54:00.000-07:00

And fast through the midnight dark and drear,
Through the whistling sleet and snow,
Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept
Tow'rds the reef of Norman's Woe.

Vis Tacita

2007-06-09T01:44:00.000-07:00

Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed
That saved she might be;
And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave,
On the Lake of Galilee.

Cave Lupum

2007-06-09T01:39:00.000-07:00

Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark,
With his face turned to the skies,
The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow
On his fixed and glassy eyes.

Fortes Fortuna Juvat

2007-06-09T01:36:00.000-07:00

"O father! I see a gleaming light.
Oh say, what may it be?"
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he.

Magni Nominus Umbra

2007-06-09T01:33:00.000-07:00

"O father! I hear the sound of guns;
Oh, say, what may it be?"
Some ship in distress, that cannot live
In such an angry sea!"

Vis Ad Libertatem

2007-06-09T01:30:00.000-07:00

"O father! I hear the church bells ring,
Oh, say, what may it be?"
"Tis a fog-bell on a rock bound coast!" --
And he steered for the open sea.

Date Nolite Rogare

2007-06-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat
Against the stinging blast;
He cut a rope from a broken spar,
And bound her to the mast.

Illegitimi Non Carborundum

2007-06-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

"Come hither! come hither! my little daughter,
And do not tremble so;
For I can weather the roughest gale
That ever wind did blow."

Sentinel of the Sea

2007-06-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

Down came the storm, and smote amain
The vessel in its strength;
She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed,
Then leaped her cable's length

Momentum Consultum

2007-06-09T00:51:00.000-07:00

Colder and louder blew the wind,
A gale from the Northeast,
The snow fell hissing in the brine,
And the billows frothed like yeast.

Without Fear, Without Reproach

2007-06-09T00:44:00.000-07:00

"Last night the moon had a golden ring,
And to-night no moon we see!"
The skipper, he blew whiff from his pipe,
And a scornful laugh laughed he.

Igneus et Fervens

2007-06-09T00:32:00.000-07:00

Then up and spake an old Sailor,
Had sailed the Spanish Main,
"I pray thee, put into yonder port,
for I fear a hurricane.

Momentum Consultum

2007-06-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

The Skipper he stood beside the helm,
His pipe was in his mouth,
And he watched how the veering flaw did blow
The smoke now West, now South.

Tenebras Repellendi

2007-06-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

Blue were her eyes as the fairy flax,
Her cheeks like the dawn of day,
And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds,
That ope in the month of May.

Pax Per Scientiam

2007-06-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

It was the schooner Hesperus,
That sailed the wintery sea;
And the skipper had taken his little daughter,
To bear him company.