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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365692" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Crab Island Light</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sea beats in at the headland spur<br>Then rounds Crab Island Reef, <br>The rip is a grey and swirling dearth<br>That will drag you underneath, <br>Then it hums and moans as it rounds the reef<br>And it howls in a winter storm, <br>'Til it beats up hard on the inland beach<br>Where the Light still stands, forlorn.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I kept that Light in my younger days<br>With my wife, sweet Mary Anne, <br>She swept and cleaned while I kept the glass<br>Of those mirrors spic and span, <br>I cleaned and polished them well by day<br>And tended the Light by night, <br>To warn seafarers of reef and rocks<br>With the beam of the Island Light.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But evenings, then, we'd lock the doors<br>And we'd climb up, out of reach<br>For the crabs would swarm by their thousands then<br>From the reef, on the inland beach, <br>They covered the beach like a devil's plague<br>And scavenged for carrion flesh, <br>So we stayed inside to the skittering sound<br>Of the crabs, attacking the mesh.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">My Mary Anne had a brother then<br>Who took to the sea in ships, <br>He'd often pass by the Light, and then<br>Would visit us, bearing gifts.<br>He brought joss sticks of sandalwood, <br>Of Jasmine, Amber and Musk, <br>His gifts of pearls and ointments, brought<br>In a longboat, nearing dusk.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He'd stay the night, and tell us then<br>Of treasures he'd seen on board, <br>Of perfumes, gold medallions, <br>Of silver, an endless hoard.<br>We joked about smugglers long ago<br>Who'd lured ships onto the rocks, <br>Then killed the crews as they crawled ashore<br>And carried the cargoes off.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Young Martin, he was a friendly lad, <br>And he loved his sister well, <br>While she adored, and she spoiled him too<br>For the tales that he had to tell, <br>But I - I sat by the sweeping Light<br>And I thought of the wealth of men, <br>While I slaved long for a pittance there<br>To care for my Mary Anne.<br> <br>His ship was known as the 'Frankfort Rose', <br>An old three masted Barque, <br>One of the last of the sailing ships, <br>As old as the 'Cutty Sark'.<br>I knew her movements from year to month, <br>From week to day to hour, <br>And when she passed by the Island Light<br>I'd have her in my power.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Winter came, and the gales they blew, <br>And the sea raged round my door, <br>The 'Frankfort Rose' was heading back, <br>With a fortune from Singapore, <br>I left my wife to her knitting then<br>And I climbed back up to the Light, <br>But I struck the flame and the dark came down<br>Black pitch in the dead of night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then dimly out through the blackness there<br>And over beyond the rocks, <br>I saw the lights of the 'Frankfort Rose'<br>As she dipped and turned, quite lost.<br>I heard the crunch of her timbers then<br>And screams from her frantic crew, <br>As the ship went down by the battered stern<br>And the sails were rent in two.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sound of splintering timbers echoed<br>Over the driving gale, <br>My Mary Anne came running up, <br>'My God - but the Light has failed! '<br>I tried to soothe and to calm her down<br>But she screamed in pain and rage: <br>'My brother's out in that storm tonight, <br>He's gone to a watery grave! ' </div><div style="margin:10px 0">She ran back down and I sparked the Light, <br>Too late, but now I knew, <br>That I'd be blamed for the wreck that night…<br>I'd say: 'The Light just blew! '<br>I raced below on the spiral stair<br>But Mary Anne had gone, <br>She'd taken the longboat, pushed it out<br>To battle the raging storm.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The blood just drained from my face, I leapt<br>Across to the open door, <br>The storm had whipped up the swell, white caps, <br>The boat was far from the shore, <br>I watched her battling monster waves, <br>And screaming Martin's name, <br>But then the bodies were swept ashore…<br>And I was the one to blame! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I crept inside and I locked the door, <br>Then cowered in the dark, <br>All thoughts of cargo and wealth were gone, <br>I wished I could take it back; <br>But nothing could save the souls out there, <br>They'd all be drowned, to a man, <br>I should have searched for my only love, <br>But I thought I'd seen her drown.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The early light brought me out once more<br>To the ravaged, lonely beach, <br>The cargo lay all about, it seemed, <br>But out of my mental reach; <br>The bodies lay, and I saw her dress<br>As it moved - I thought it a dream…<br>Then the crabs poured out, and I seemed to hear<br>My voice, as it rose to scream.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">3 June 2008</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=365692" data-title="Crab Island Light de David Lewis Paget" data-description="The sea beats in at the headland spur
Then rounds Crab Island Reef, 
The rip is a grey and swirling dearth
That will drag you underneath, 
Then it hums and moans as it rounds the reef
And it howls in a winter storm, 
'Til it beats up hard on the i..."></div>
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