THE SOLITUDE OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK I AM monarch of all I survey; My right there is none to dispute; I am lord of the fowl and the brute. I am out of humanity's reach, They are so unacquainted with man, 15 Society, Friendship, and Love How soon would I taste you again! Ye winds that have made me your sport, My friends, do they now and then send- O tell me I yet have a friend, Though a friend I am never to see. How fleet is a glance of the mind! The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-wingéd arrows of light. But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest, 35 40 MARY! I want a lyre with other strings, Such aid from Heaven as some have feign'd they drew, An eloquence scarce given to mortals, new 5 By seraphs writ with beams of heavenly light, 10 A chronicle of actions just and bright There all thy deeds, my faithful Mary, shine; And since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee mine. TO THE SAME THE twentieth year is well-nigh past Since first our sky was overcast; Ah would that this might be the last! My Mary! 'T was my distress that brought thee low, My Mary! 5 Thy needles, once a shining store, For my sake restless heretofore, 10 Now rust disused, and shine no more; For though thou gladly wouldst fulfil But well thou play'dst the housewife's part, Thy indistinct expressions seem Yet me they charm, whate'er the theme, Thy silver locks, once auburn bright, For could I view nor them nor thee, Partakers of thy sad decline Thy hands their little force resign; 30 35 Such feebleness of limbs thou prov'st And still to love, though prest with ill, With me is to be lovely still, But ah! by constant heed I know And should my future lot be cast THE CASTAWAY OBSCUREST night involved the sky, Wash'd headlong from on board, No braver chief could Albion boast 40 45 50 Nor ever ship left Albion's coast With warmer wishes sent. 10 He loved them both, but both in vain, Not long beneath the whelming brine, Nor soon he felt his strength decline, 15 20 But waged with death a lasting strife, He shouted: nor his friends had fail'd To check the vessel's course, But so the furious blast prevail'd, That, pitiless perforce, They left their outcast mate behind, Some succour yet they could afford; The cask, the coop, the floated cord, But he (they knew) nor ship nor shore, Nor, cruel as it seem'd, could he Their haste himself condemn, He long survives, who lives an hour In ocean, self-upheld; And so long he, with unspent power, 40 And ever, as the minutes flew, Entreated help, or cried “Adieu!” At length, his transient respite past, Could catch the sound no more; No poet wept him; but the page 45 50 |