Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1862-03-29
SELECT POETRY.
VOYAGE OF THE GOOD SHIP UNION
BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

Tis midnight: through my trouble dreams.
Loud walls the tempest's cry;
Before the gale, with tatcrcd sail,
ship goes plunging by.
What name Where bound l--the rocks
around
Repeat the loud halloo.
Tho good ship Union, Southwark bound:
God help her and her crew!
And is the old flag flying still
That o'cr your fathers flew,
With bands of white and rosy light,
And fields of starry blue p
Ay. look aloft its folds full oft
Have braved the roaring blast
And still shall fly when from the sky
This black typhoon has past
Speak, pilot of the storm-tost bark
May thy perils share ,
o landsman these are fearful seas
The brave alone may dare =
Nay, ruler of the rebel deep,
What matters wind or wavcI
The rocks wreck your recling deck
Will leave me naught to save
o lantlsman, art thou false or true1
What sign hast thou to show p
| The crimson stains from loyal veins
| That hold my heart -blood's flow.
Enough what more shall honor claiml
| | know the sacred sign;
Above thy head our ilag shall spread,
Our ocean path be thine
The bark sails on; the Pilgrims Cape
Lies low along her lee,
| Whose headland crooks its anchor fiukes
| To lock the shore and sea.
| No treason here it cost to dear
| To win this barren realm!
And true and free the hand must I've
| That hold tie whaler's helm!
| Still on. Manhattan's narrowing bay
| No rebel cruiser scars;
Her waters feel no pirates keel
That tlaunts the fallen stars =
But watch the light on yonder height
Ay, pilot, have Il care
Some lingering crowd in mist may shroud
The capes of Delaware.
Say. pilot, what this fort may be
Whose sentinels look down
From moated walls that show the sea
Their deep cmbrasurcs' frown
The rebel host claims all the coast,
But these are friends, we know,
Whose footprints spoil the sacred soil,'
And this is ?---Fort Monroe
| I nc DTtHktTS TbuI,--HON DfiIS tlt SllOlt =
The traitorous wrcckcrs' hands
Have oucnchcd the blaze that poured il
rays
Along the Eatteras sands
Ia say not so see its glow!
Again the shoals display
The beacon light that shines by night,
The Union stars by day
The good ship flies 20 mider skies,
The wave more gently flows,
The softcning breeze watts DER the seas
The breath of Bcaulort's rosr.
What fold is this the sweet winds kiss,
FairSripcd and many starred,
Whose shadow pals the orphaned walls
, The twins of Beaurcgardl
What heard not you Port Royals doom I?
How the black war-ships came
And turned the Beaufort roses bloom
To rcddcr Wreaths of flame
How from RcbcliOns broken road
We saw his emblem lall,
As soon his cursed prison-wced
Shall drop from Sumptcrs wall I
On. on! Pulaski's iron hail
Falls harmless on Tyhce,
Her topsaiIs feel the lrcshcning gale,
The strikes the open sea;
SnC rouHts llc polIIl' sIlc lhlc'luH ih' ny
That guard the Land of Flowers.
And ride at last where firm and fast
t Her own Gibraltcr toWcls.
The good ship Unions voyage is DER,
At anchor safe she swings,
And loud and clear with cheer on cheer
Her Joyous welcome rings:
Hurrah IIurah it shakes the wave,
1t thndcrs ON the shorC,-
, One flag, one land, one heart, one hand,
One nation, cyermOrc.
-ittutic -hoGth5H for March