A moment's fantasy, the vision came Piling the fagots, hour by doomful hour. 1893 THE SAINT AND THE SATYR SAINT ANTHONY the eremite He wandered in the wold, 1893 1895 1897 15 20 5 5 10 And there he saw a hoofèd wight * Verse, Inclusive Edition, Doubleday, Page & Co. Copyright, 1891-1919. By permission of Author and Publishers. To blunder down by Garden Reach And rot at Kedgeree, The tale the Hughli told the shoal The lean shoal told to me. "T was Fultah Fisher's boarding-house, Where sailor-men reside, 5 That neither gifts nor gain Can hold a winking Light o' Love Or Fancy's flight restrain, When Anne of Austria rolled her eyes On Hans the blue-eyed Dane. Since Life is strife, and strife means knife, From Howrah to the Bay, And he may die before the dawn Who liquored out the day, In Fultah Fisher's boarding-house We woo while yet we may. But cold was Hans the blue-eyed Dane, And laughter shook the chest beneath The little silver crucifix That keeps a man from harm. 'You speak to Salem Hardieker; I ship mineselfs to-morrow, see, To Besser in Saro.' When love rejected turns to hate, All ill betide the man. She spoke as woman can. A scream a sob 'He called me names!' And then the fray began. 'You speak to Salem Hardieker' An oath from Salem Hardieker, A dance of shadows on the wall, A knife-thrust unawares And Hans came down, as cattle drop, Across the broken chairs. 60 65 70 75 80 85 At Fultah Fisher's boarding-house Now Anne of Austria shared their drinks, From Tarnau in Galicia To Jaun Bazaar she came, To eat the bread of infamy And take the wage of shame. She held a dozen men to heel 45 Rich spoil of war was hers, 50 In hose and gown and ring and chain, From twenty mariners, And, by Port Law, that week, men called Her Salem Hardieker's. |