StoryTitle("caps", "The Inchcape Rock") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(103, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The ship was as still as she could be,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Her sails from heaven received no motion,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Her keel was steady in the ocean.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Without either sign or sound of their shock,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The waves flow'd over the Inchcape Rock;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So little they rose, so little they fell,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", " They did not move the Inchcape Bell.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The good old Abbot of Aberbrothok", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And over the waves its warning rung.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The mariners heard the warning bell;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And then they knew the perilous Rock,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The sun in heaven was shining gay,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All things were joyful on that day;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The sea-birds scream'd as they wheel'd round,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And there was joyance in their sound.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A darker speck on the ocean green:", "") ?>
PagePoem(104, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sir Ralph the Rover walk'd his deck, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And he fix'd his eyes on the darker speck.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He felt the cheering power of spring,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It made him whistle, it made him sing; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His heart was mirthful to excess,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But the Rover's mirth was wickedness.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His eye was on the Inchcape float; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Quoth he, \"My men, put out the boat, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And row me to the Inchcape Rock,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And I'll plague the priest of Aberbrothok.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The boat is lower'd, the boatmen row, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And to the Inchcape Rock they go; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And he cut the bell from the Inchcape float.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Down sunk the bell, with a gurgling sound, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The bubbles rose and burst around;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Quoth Sir Ralph, \"The next who comes to the Rock ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sir Ralph the Rover sail'd away", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He scour'd the seas for many a day;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And now grown rich with plunder'd store, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He steers his course for Scotland's shore.", "") ?>
PagePoem(105, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They cannot see the sun on high; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The wind hath blown a gale all day, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At evening it hath died away.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On the deck the Rover takes his stand, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So dark it is they see no land,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Quoth Sir Ralph, \"It will be lighter soon, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For there is the dawn of the rising moon.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Canst hear,\" said one, \"the breakers roar? ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For methinks we should be near the shore; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Now where we are I cannot tell,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They hear no sound, the swell is strong; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cried they, \"It is the Inchcape Rock!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He curst himself in his despair; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The waves rush in on every side, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The ship is sinking beneath the tide.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But even in his dying fear", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "One dreadful sound could the Rover hear, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A sound as if, with the Inchcape Bell, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The fiends below were ringing his knell.", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("85", SmallCapsText("—Robert Southey.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>