Anti-Slavery Poems and Songs of Labor and Reform, Complete






THE SHIP-BUILDERS

     THE sky is ruddy in the east,
     The earth is gray below,
     And, spectral in the river-mist,
     The ship's white timbers show.
     Then let the sounds of measured stroke
     And grating saw begin;
     The broad-axe to the gnarled oak,
     The mallet to the pin!

     Hark! roars the bellows, blast on blast,
     The sooty smithy jars,
     And fire-sparks, rising far and fast,
     Are fading with the stars.
     All day for us the smith shall stand
     Beside that flashing forge;
     All day for us his heavy hand
     The groaning anvil scourge.

     From far-off hills, the panting team
     For us is toiling near;
     For us the raftsmen down the stream
     Their island barges steer.
     Rings out for us the axe-man's stroke
     In forests old and still;
     For us the century-circled oak
     Falls crashing down his hill.

     Up! up! in nobler toil than ours
     No craftsmen bear a part
     We make of Nature's giant powers
     The slaves of human Art.
     Lay rib to rib and beam to beam,
     And drive the treenails free;
     Nor faithless joint nor yawning seam
     Shall tempt the searching sea.

     Where'er the keel of our good ship
     The sea's rough field shall plough;
     Where'er her tossing spars shall drip
     With salt-spray caught below;
     That ship must heed her master's beck,
     Her helm obey his hand,
     And seamen tread her reeling deck
     As if they trod the land.

     Her oaken ribs the vulture-beak
     Of Northern ice may peel;
     The sunken rock and coral peak
     May grate along her keel;
     And know we well the painted shell
     We give to wind and wave,
     Must float, the sailor's citadel,
     Or sink, the sailor's grave.

     Ho! strike away the bars and blocks,
     And set the good ship free!
     Why lingers on these dusty rocks
     The young bride of the sea?
     Look! how she moves adown the grooves,
     In graceful beauty now!
     How lowly on the breast she loves
     Sinks down her virgin prow.

     God bless her! wheresoe'er the breeze
     Her snowy wing shall fan,
     Aside the frozen Hebrides,
     Or sultry Hindostan!
     Where'er, in mart or on the main,
     With peaceful flag unfurled,
     She helps to wind the silken chain
     Of commerce round the world!

     Speed on the ship! But let her bear
     No merchandise of sin,
     No groaning cargo of despair
     Her roomy hold within;
     No Lethean drug for Eastern lands,
     Nor poison-draught for ours;
     But honest fruits of toiling hands
     And Nature's sun and showers.

     Be hers the Prairie's golden grain,
     The Desert's golden sand,
     The clustered fruits of sunny Spain,
     The spice of Morning-land!
     Her pathway on the open main
     May blessings follow free,
     And glad hearts welcome back again
     Her white sails from the sea
     1846.

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