No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
|
|||||
The ship was still as she could be,
|
|||||
Her sails from heaven received no
motion, |
|||||
Her keel was steady in the ocean.
|
|||||
Without either sign or sound of their
shock |
|||||
The waves flow’d over the Inchcape
Rock; |
|||||
So little they rose, so little they
fell, |
|||||
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.
|
|||||
The Abbot of Aberbrothok
|
|||||
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.
|
|||||
When the Rock was hid by the surge’s
swell, |
|||||
The mariners heard the warning bell;
|
|||||
And then they knew the perilous Rock,
|
|||||
And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.
|
|||||
The Sun in heaven was shining gay,
|
|||||
All things were joyful on that day;
|
|||||
The sea-birds scream’d as they wheel’d
round, |
|||||
And there was joyaunce in their sound.
|
|||||
The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen
|
|||||
A darker speck on the ocean green;
|
|||||
Sir Ralph the Rover walk’d his deck,
|
|||||
And he fix’d his eye on the darker
speck. |
|||||
He felt the cheering power of spring,
|
|||||
It made his whistle, it made him sing;
|
|||||
His heart was mirthful to excess,
|
|||||
But the Rover’s mirth was wickedness.
|
|||||
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
Aberbrothok.’ |
|||||
The boat is lower’d, 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. |
|||||
Down sunk 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 Aberbrothok.’
|
|||||
Sir Ralph the Rover sail’d away,
|
|||||
He scour’d the seas for many a day;
|
|||||
And now grown rich with plunder’d
store, |
|||||
He steers his course for Scotland’s
shore. |
|||||
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.
|
|||||
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.’ |
|||||
‘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 I could hear the Inchcape
Bell.’ |
|||||
They hear no sound, the swell is
strong; |
|||||
Though the wind hath fallen they drift
along, |
|||||
Till the vessel strikes with a
shivering shock,― |
|||||
‘Oh Christ! It is the Inchcape Rock!’
|
|||||
Sit Ralph the Rover tore his hair;
|
|||||
He curst himself in his despair;
|
|||||
The waves rush in on every side,
|
THE INCHCAPE ROCK-ICSE-IX-X-ENGLISH
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