Back Aa

Ontario Readers Third Book, The

Close

<h2>THE INCHCAPE ROCK</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, The ship was as still as she could be; Her sails from heaven received no motion, Her keel was steady in the ocean. </div> <div class="stanza"> Without either sign or sound of their shock, The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock; So little they rose, so little they fell, They did not move the Inchcape Bell. </div> <div class="stanza"> The pious Abbot of Aberbrothock Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock; On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung, And over the waves its warning rung. </div> <div class="stanza"> When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell, The mariners heard the warning bell; And then they knew the perilous Rock, And blessed the Abbot of Aberbrothock. </div> <div class="stanza"> The sun in heaven was shining gay; All things were joyful on that day; The sea-birds screamed as they wheeled round, And there was joyance in their sound. </div> <div class="stanza"> The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen, A darker speck on the ocean green; Sir Ralph the Rover walked his deck, And he fixed his eye on the darker speck. </div> <div class="stanza"> He felt the cheering power of spring; It made him whistle, it made him sing: His heart was mirthful to excess, But the Rover's mirth was wickedness. </div> <div class="stanza"> His eye was on the Inchcape float; Quoth he: "My men, put out the boat, And row me to the Inchcape Rock, And I'll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothock." </div> <div class="stanza"> The boat is lowered, the boatmen row, And to the Inchcape Rock they go; Sir Ralph bent over from the boat, And he cut the bell from the Inchcape float. </div> <div class="stanza"> Down sank the bell, with a gurgling sound, The bubbles rose and burst around; Quoth Sir Ralph: "The next who comes to the Rock Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothock." </div> <div class="stanza"> Sir Ralph the Rover sailed away; He scoured the seas for many a day; And now, grown rich with plundered store, He steers his course for Scotland's shore. </div> <div class="stanza"> So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky They cannot see the sun on high; The wind hath blown a gale all day, At evening it hath died away. </div> <div class="stanza"> On the deck the Rover takes his stand; So dark it is, they see no land. Quoth Sir Ralph: "It will be lighter soon, For there is the dawn of the rising moon." </div> <div class="stanza"> "Canst hear," said one, "the breakers roar? For methinks we should be near the shore." "Now where we are I cannot tell, But I wish we could hear the Inchcape Bell." </div> <div class="stanza"> They hear no sound; the swell is strong; Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along, Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock; Cried they: "It is the Inchcape Rock!" </div> <div class="stanza"> Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair, He cursed himself in his despair: The waves rush in on every side; The ship is sinking beneath the tide. </div> <div class="stanza"> But, even in his dying fear, One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,— A sound as if, with the Inchcape Bell, The fiends below were ringing his knell. </div> </div> Southey <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2