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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013555994 
 
ONE PENNT 
 
 A Word 
 
 for 
 
 The Navy 
 
 BY 
 
 ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE 
 
 POPWLJR ERJTION 
 
 LONDON 
 GEORGE REDWAY 
 
 MDCCCXCVI 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE 
 
 This Poem was issued by me ten years 
 ago, and. circulated at a high price among 
 a limited number of hook collectors. It 
 is now re-issued with a few alterations 
 rendered desirable by change of national 
 circumstances. 
 
 George Redway. 
 
 9 Hart Street, Bloomsbury, 
 January 1896, 
 
A Word for the Navy 
 
 BY 
 
 ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE 
 
 % - '" 
 
 LONDON 
 
 it 
 
 GEORGE REDWAY 
 
 
 MDCCCXCVI 
 
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A Word for the Navy 
 
 1 
 
 /^UEEN born of the sea, that hast borne her 
 The mightiest of seamen on earth. 
 Bright England, whose glories adorn her 
 And bid her rejoice in thy birth 
 As others made mothers 
 
 Rejoice in births sublime. 
 She names thee, she claims thee. 
 The lordliest child of time. 
 
A WORD FOR THE NAVY 
 
 II 
 
 A LL hers is the praise of thy story. 
 
 All thine is the love of her choice : 
 The light of her waves is thy glory 
 The sound of thy soul is her voice. 
 They fear it who hear it 
 
 And love not truth nor thee : 
 They sicken, heart-stricken, 
 Wlio see and would not see. 
 
A WORD FOR THE NAVY 
 
 III 
 
 t^llHE lords of thy fate, and thy keepers 
 
 Whose charge is the strength of thy ships. 
 If now they be dreamers and sleepers. 
 Or sluggards with lies at their lips,- 
 Thy haters and traitors. 
 
 False friends or foes descried. 
 Might scatter and shatter 
 Too soon thy princely pride. 
 
A WORD FOR THE NAVY 
 
 IV 
 
 TJIALSE France, as a serpent for rancour. 
 Strong Germany, girded with guile. 
 Lay wait for thee riding at anchor 
 On waters that whisper and smile. 
 They deem thee or dream thee 
 
 Less living now than dead. 
 Deep sunken and drunken 
 
 With sleep whence fear has fled. 
 
A WORD FOR THE NAVY 
 
 V 
 
 A ND wliat though thy song as thine action 
 Wax faint, and thy place be not known. 
 While faction is grappling with faction. 
 Twin curs with thy corpse for & bone ? 
 They care not, who sj)are not 
 
 The noise of pens or throats ; 
 Who bluster and muster 
 
 Blind ranks and bellowing votes. 
 
10 A WORD FOR THE NAVY 
 
 VI 
 
 r ET populace jangle with peerage 
 
 And ministers shuffle their mobs ; 
 Mad pilots who reck not of steerage 
 Though tempest ahead of them throbs. 
 That throbbing and sobbing 
 
 Of wind and gradual wave 
 They hear not and fear not 
 Who guide thee toward thy grave. 
 
A WORD FOR, THE NAVY 11 
 
 VII 
 
 "Tyro clamour of cries or of parties 
 
 Is worth but a whisper from thee. 
 While only the trust of thy heart is 
 At one with the soul of the sea. 
 In justice her trust is 
 
 Whose time her tidestreams keep; 
 They sink not, they shrink not. 
 Time casts them not on sleep 
 
12 A WORD FOR THE NAVY 
 
 VIII 
 
 ^LEEP thou : for thy past was so royal. 
 
 Love hardly would bid thee take heed 
 Though France were not constant and loyal 
 Nor Germany guiltless of greed. 
 No nation, in station 
 
 Of story less than thou. 
 Re-risen from prison. 
 
 Can stand against thee now. 
 
A WORD FOR THE NAVY 13 
 
 IX 
 O LEEP on : is the time not a season 
 
 For strong men to slumber and sleep. 
 And wise men to palter with treason? 
 And they that sow tares, shaU they reap ? 
 The wages of ages 
 
 Wherein men smiled and slept. 
 Fame fails them, shame veils them. 
 Their record is not kept 
 
14 A WORD FOB THE NAVY 
 
 X 
 
 "VTAYj whence is it then that we know it. 
 
 What wages were theirs, and what fame? 
 Deep voices of prophet and poet 
 Bear record against them of shame. 
 Death, starker and- darker 
 
 Than seals the graveyard grate. 
 Entombs them and dooms them 
 To darkness deep as fate. 
 
A WORD FOR THE NAVY U 
 
 XI 
 "DUT thou, ;^ough the world should misdoubt 
 thee, 
 ,. , Be strong, as the seas at thy side; 
 Bind on but thine armour about thee. 
 
 That girds thee with power and with pride. 
 Where Drake stood, where Blake stood, 
 
 Wlvere fame sees Nelson standj • 
 Stand thou too, and now too 
 Take thou thy fate in hand. 
 
16 A WORD FOR THE NAVY 
 
 XII 
 
 A T the gate of the sea, in the gateway, 
 
 Thej stood as the guards of thy gate ; 
 Take now but thy strengths to thee straightway,. 
 Though late, we will deejn it not late. 
 Thy story, thy glory. 
 
 The very soul of thee. 
 It rose not, it grows not. 
 It comes not save by sea. 
 
 4 V . 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 5506. W6 1896 
 
 A word for the Navy. 
 
 3 1924 013 555 994 
 
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