The Child and the Mariner

There came a stranger to my grandad’s house,

The old man’s nephew, a seafarer too;

A big, strong able man who could have walked

Tom Barlum’s hill all clad in iron mail;

So strong he could have made one man his club

To knock down others—Henry was his name,

No other name was uttered by his kin.

And here he was, insooth illclad, but oh,

Thought I, what secrets of the sea are his!

This man knows coral islands in the sea,

And dusky girls heartbroken for white men;

This sailor knows of wondrous lands afar,

More rich than Spain, when the Phœnicians shipped

Silver for common ballast, and they saw

Horses at silver mangers eating grain;

This man has seen the wind blow up a mermaid’s hair

Which, like a golden serpent, reared and stretched

To feel the air away beyond her head.

He begged my pennies, which I gave with joy—

He will most certainly return some time

A self-made king of same new land, and rich.