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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365659" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Armada</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">A nursery governess stood and stared<br>At a hundred and fifty ships, <br>That lay in the Harbour at Lisbon where<br>They loaded each Galleass, <br>They bristled with brass and iron guns<br>With cannon and shot to spare, <br>And thousands of Spanish soldiers, heading<br>For England, do or dare! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">A girl from a gentle Sussex home, <br>She thought of her father's fate, <br>A bluff, old-fashioned seafarer<br>Who had sailed with Francis Drake, <br>But this was surely the grandest fleet<br>That ever had put to sea, <br>Since Christ had walked on the water<br>On that lake, in Galilee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She took up her parchment, dipped the quill<br>And wrote to a face unknown, <br>She knew that the King of Spain would seek<br>To usurp Elizabeth's throne, <br>Her countrymen must be forewarned<br>Must all be made to see! <br>She wrote: 'A massive Armada sails<br>To seize your good country! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She thrust it into a bottle that<br>Had held fine Spanish wine, <br>Then sealed the top with a plug of wax<br>To keep the message dry.<br>She flung it over the nearest cliff, <br>It drifted out to sea, <br>A message, meant for Sir Francis Drake<br>And all his company.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The bottle had bobbed on the surface as<br>The governess knelt and prayed, <br>'Dear Lord, deliver me just one thing<br>That England might be saved! <br>I'm merely an English governess, <br>Not versed in tricks or guile, <br>But if I could save dear England, then<br>My life had been worthwhile.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The bottle still bobbed in the Channel, then<br>Was swept due south and west, <br>Right out to the mid-Atlantic swell<br>It made its way, unblessed, <br>For thirty years it had bobbled about, <br>Remained unseen by man, <br>Then landed in Plymouth Harbour, and<br>Lay careless on the sand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The tribe who discovered it couldn't read, <br>They thought that it was a sign, <br>The gods had sent them a message, locked<br>In a glass that smelt of wine.<br>The parchment lay in a curl inside<br>But nothing would set it free, <br>It said: 'A massive Armada sails<br>To seize your good country! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There followed a ship with billowing sails, <br>And men with a paler skin, <br>The lettering spelt 'The Mayflower', <br>They just couldn't read it then.<br>They threw the bottle back into the sea<br>To rid the land of its curse, <br>But soon the others came billowing in, <br>The 'Mayflower' was the first! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">While over in Sussex there lived a maid, <br>Who once was a governess, <br>For one great day in a humble life, <br>She thought, had seen her blessed! <br>She thought of the sailor who'd read her note, <br>Who'd plucked it out from the sea, <br>And routed the Spanish Armada - 'Thanks<br>To Francis Drake, and me! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She never would know, the bottle was still<br>Afloat by the eastern coast, <br>For thirty years in the Caribbean<br>Her message floated, lost.<br>It came ashore at Spanish Town<br>Its message was there to see, <br>It said: 'A mighty Armada sails<br>To seize your good country! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And then came the English buccaneers, <br>Port Royal, their pirate den, <br>The Spaniards lost Jamaica to<br>The Fleet of William Penn, <br>The bottle floated away once more<br>To travel the world around, <br>In Sussex, a humble governess<br>Was planted, there in the ground.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A hundred and thirty years went by, <br>The bottle had floated still, <br>Until it discovered that Southern Land<br>Of virgin green and hill, <br>It came ashore at Port Jackson, lay<br>Unheeded by the sea, <br>Was brought ashore by a warrior, <br>An Aborigine.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He never had seen its like, he tried<br>To understand its creed, <br>The message was plainly visible<br>If only he could read, <br>While back in Sussex, stood the stone<br>Now powdered where she lay, <br>A humble Sussex governess<br>Whose message ruled the day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The First Fleet came in '88, <br>And drove them from the shore, <br>This seemingly great Armada that<br>Would launch Australia.<br>He threw the bottle back, in hopes, <br>This Aborigine, <br>That the ships would sail away again -<br>But this would never be! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">That bottle, chipped and scarred by time<br>Went round the world once more, <br>A hundred and fifty years or so<br>Before it came ashore, <br>But then the Great Armada sailed<br>The greatest yet by far, <br>That final message was waiting there, <br>On a beach called 'Omaha! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">20 October 2009</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=David+Lewis+Paget">David Lewis Paget</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365659" data-title="Armada de David Lewis Paget" data-description="A nursery governess stood and stared
At a hundred and fifty ships, 
That lay in the Harbour at Lisbon where
They loaded each Galleass, 
They bristled with brass and iron guns
With cannon and shot to spare, 
And thousands of Spanish soldiers, headi..."></div>
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