Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1862-04-04
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From the .4tianttc .Nonthty.
VOYAGE OF THE GOOD SHIP UNION.
81 OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

VOYAGE OF THE GOOD SHIP UNION
BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
sTis midnight through my troubled dream
Loud walls the tempest cry;
Before the gale, with tattered sail,
a ship goes plunging by,
What nanle2 Where bound2 The rocks around
Repeat The ioud haloo,
The good ship Union, southwark bound.
God help her and her crew.
And is ;he old flag flying sill
That Ger your fathers flew,
5yilh hands Of white and rosy light,
And field OF starry biuel
Az look aioh its folds inlI oft
Have bTaved the roaring blast,
Aud still shall fly when from the sky
This black typhoon has past.
Speak 7riot. Of tire storm-Tost bark
May | lis dangers share
o. landsman, these are fearful seas
The brave alone may dare.
Nay, ruler of the rebel deep,
What matters wind or wave
The rocks that wreck your reeIng deck
viii leave me nought 10 save.
0 landsman, ar, thou false or trae2
What sign hast thou to show
The crimson stains from loyal veins
That hold my heaTl-olood's flow.
Enough, what more shall honor claim
knew the sacred sign;
a.AEoye thy head our flag shall spread,
Our ocean path 10 thine.
The bark sails on: the Pilgrim cape
Lies low along her lee,
Whose headland crooks its anchor iukes
To lock the shore and sea.
No treason here-it cost too dear
To SSIu -tHe barren fea nm,
And true and Tree the hands must be
That holo the whalers helm.
Still on: Manhattan's narrowing bay
No rebel cruiser scars:
Her waters feel no pirate k eel,
That aaunts the fallen stars.
But watch the light iu yonder height
Ay, pilot, have a care
Some lingering crowd in mist may slroud
The capes OF Delaware.
Say pilot, what this tort may be,
Whose seniiRes look down
From mounted walls that show The sea
Their deep enbrasures frown T.
The rebel host claims all the coast
But these are friends, we know,
Whose footprints spoil the ''sacred soil,
And ihis is?--For Monroe.
The breakers roar--how bears the shore!
The trailosous wrecker'e bands
Have quenched the blaze that poured its ray:
Along the HaueTas SANDS
Hal say not SOL see It's glow
Again the shoals display
The beacon light that shines by night,
The Union stars BY day.
The good ship flies TO milder skies,
The wave more gently flows,
The soilening breeze watts o'er the seas
The breath of BeauforPs rose.
What fold is this the sweet winds kiss.
Fair-stripped and many starred
Whose shadow pals the orphaned walls
The twins OF Beauregardl
What heard you not Port Royals doom2
How the black war-ships came
And turned the Beaufort roses, bloom
To redders swreath's Of hames2
How from Tebellion's broken reed
We saw his emblem fall,
AS soon his cursed poison weed
Shall drop from Sumtets wall!
On, on, Pulaskis iron hail
Fall harmless on Tybee-
Her !opsails feel the freshening gale.
She strikes the open sea;
The rounds the point she threads the keys
That guard The land of flowers,
Aud rides al last where firm and fast
Her own Gibralter towers
The geod ship Unions voyage is o'er,
At anchor safe she swings.
And loud and clear with cheer on cheer.
Her Joyous welcome rings;
HuHah hurrah lit shakes ihe wave,
Ii thunders on the shore
One flag, one land, one heart, one hand
One nation eyermore.
An amusing sword presentation was recent
ly made b. the officers of the 18th Pennsyiya