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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365989" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Stoker</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">His eyes could pierce my very soul<br>His scowl could match my frown, <br>His hatred seemed to lurk beneath<br>The coal dust on his brow, <br>The stoker of the 'Antic Queen'<br>Was sallow, hollow-cheeked, <br>A voice that echoed, like the clang<br>Of echoes, from the deep.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He worked the vessel's engine room<br>Built up a head of steam, <br>He sprayed each layer of coal across<br>Like someone in a dream, <br>It glowed white-hot, he'd slam the door<br>And cast his shovel clear, <br>'A pox upon you, Derek Sloane, '<br>He'd call, when I was near.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I'd make believe I didn't hear, <br>Go through the bulkhead door<br>And make my way back up on deck, <br>I'd heard it all before.<br>His wife had tired of all his moods<br>Had eyed me through the crowd, <br>She'd left the stoker for me then, <br>The lissom Ann O'Dowd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She'd always had a roving eye<br>I knew that from the start, <br>But reason has no part to play<br>When love attacks your heart.<br>We'd had a month of jollity<br>She'd wrecked my only bed, <br>When I went back to sea<br>The lovely Ann had filled my head.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We'd only been at sea a day<br>When I was sent below, <br>To see why steam in number two<br>Was building up so slow, <br>And then it was I saw O'Dowd, <br>I'd thought him still ashore, <br>Or coaling on another ship<br>En route to Singapore.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He came up to my cabin once<br>His shift was at an end, <br>And told me he had plans for Ann, <br>A coffin for a friend, <br>Then leered and sneered, 'I've said enough, <br>But you remember this, <br>Your Ann's as good as dead, old chum, <br>Before you leave this ship! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I brooded on his words for days, <br>There wasn't any phone, <br>I couldn't use the radio<br>Without it being known, <br>I couldn't tell the Captain as<br>He wouldn't understand, <br>I had no proof of anything<br>That Tom O'Dowd had planned.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We hit the Bay of Biscay and<br>A fog came rolling in, <br>You couldn't see a dozen yards<br>Around the 'Antic Queen', <br>We cut our speed to seven knots<br>And edged on through the murk, <br>The foghorn sounded off and on<br>The sky was getting dark.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All that night we kept a watch<br>Until at early light, <br>A tanker nosing through the fog<br>Came steaming, out of sight, <br>She hit us just behind the bridge<br>And buckled plates without, <br>I rushed down to the engine room<br>To put the fires out.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O'Dowd was lying on the coal, <br>All covered in its dust, <br>The sea was pouring in too fast<br>To leave it all to trust, <br>I swung the heavy metal door<br>And sealed it from the tide, <br>O'Dowd jumped up and hit the door, <br>With terror in his eyes.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He screamed at me to open it, <br>I watched him through the port, <br>But regulations told me<br>To do nothing of the sort, <br>The ship was the important thing<br>And sometimes men must die, <br>But secretly, I smiled within<br>For Ann was safe and dry.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O'Dowd stood back and stared at me, <br>And realised his fate, <br>His wicked eyes stared through me<br>As the water lapped his feet; <br>I couldn't hear, but I could see<br>Him mouth two words of note, <br>He shouted 'parcel bomb', and drew<br>His hand across his throat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The water rose, washed him away<br>I raced up to the deck, <br>The ship was listing badly<br>It would shortly be a wreck, <br>We got the lifeboats out by chance<br>Along the starboard side, <br>And drifted out as 'Antic Queen'<br>Turned turtle, rose and dived.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Three days it took to get on home<br>I couldn't contact Ann, <br>She wasn't answering the phone, <br>I took a cab, I ran, <br>I saw the note hand scribbled there<br>That lay, it seemed like hours, <br>To read that Ann decided she'd<br>Be true to all her vows.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She'd gone back to O'Dowd, she said, <br>Her husband, right or wrong, <br>I'd be all right, she said, I'd find<br>Some woman; just be strong.<br>I raced around to where O'Dowd<br>Had lived in Ratton Place, <br>The wall had blown out in the street, <br>Of Ann, there was no trace.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He'd left a bunch of flowers there, <br>A present tightly wrapped, <br>A note to tell his darling wife<br>That he would take her back; <br>She must have opened it, I think<br>A smile, a look serene, <br>O'Dowd had laughed the final laugh, <br>Down in the 'Antic Queen'.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">20 March 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=365989" data-title="The Stoker de David Lewis Paget" data-description="His eyes could pierce my very soul
His scowl could match my frown, 
His hatred seemed to lurk beneath
The coal dust on his brow, 
The stoker of the 'Antic Queen'
Was sallow, hollow-cheeked, 
A voice that echoed, like the clang
Of echoes, from the ..."></div>
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