Classic Poem

The old mayor climbed the belfry tower,
— The ringers ran by two, by three;
" Pull, if ye never pulled before;
— Good ringers, pull your best, " quoth he.
" Play uppe, play uppe, O Boston bells!
Play all your changes, all your swells,
— Play uppe, " The Brides of Enderby". "

Men say it was a stolen tyde —
— The Lord that sent it, He knows all;
But in myne ears doth still abide
— The message that the bells let fall:
And there was naught of strange, beside
The flight of mews and peewits pied
— By millions crouched on the old sea wall.

I sat and spun within the doore,
— My thread brake off, I raised myne eyes;
The level sun, like ruddy ore,
— Lay sinking in the barren skies;
And dark against day's golden death
She moved where Lindis wandereth,
My sonne's faire wife, Elizabeth.

" Cusha! Cusha! Cusha! " calling,
Ere the early dews were falling,
Farre away I heard her song,
" Cusha! Cusha! " all along;
Where the reedy Lindis floweth,
— — Floweth, floweth,
From the meads where melick groweth
Faintly came her milking song —

" Cusha! Cusha! Cusha! " calling,
" For the dews will soone be falling;
Leave your meadow grasses mellow,
— — — Mellow, mellow;
Quit your cowslips, cowslips yellow;
Come uppe, Whitefoot, come uppe, Lightfoot;
Quit the stalks of parsley hollow,
— — — Hollow, hollow;
Come uppe, Jetty, rise and follow,
From the clovers lift your head;
Come uppe, Whitefoot, come uppe, Lightfoot,
Come uppe, Jetty, rise and follow,
Jetty, to the milking shed. "

If it be long, ay, long ago,
— When I beginne to think howe long,
Againe I hear the Lindis flow,
— Swift as an arrowe, sharpe and strong;
And all the aire, it seemeth mee,
Bin full of floating bells (sayth shee),
That ring the tune of Enderby.

Alle fresh the level pasture lay,
— And not a shadowe mote be seene,
Save where full fyve good miles away
— The steeple towered from out the greene;
And lo! the great bell farre and wide
Was heard in all the country side
That Saturday at eventide.

The swanherds where their sedges are
— Moved on in sunset's golden breath,
The shepherde lads I heard afarre,
— And my sonne's wife, Elizabeth;
Till floating o'er the grassy sea
Came downe that kyndly message free,
The " Brides of Mavis Enderby. "

Then some looked uppe into the sky,
— And all along where Lindis flows
To where the goodly vessels lie,
— And where the lordly steeple shows.
They sayde, " And why should this thing be?
What danger lowers by land or sea?
They ring the tune of Enderby!

" For evil news from Mablethorpe,
— Of pyrate galleys warping down;
For shippes ashore beyond the scorpe,
— They have not spared to wake the towne:
But while the west bin red to see,
And storms be none, and pyrates flee,
Why ring " The Brides of Enderby"? "

I looked without, and lo! my sonne
— Came riding downe with might and main:
He raised a shout as he drew on,
— Till all the welkin rang again,
" Elizabeth! Elizabeth! "
(A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath
Than my sonne's wife, Elizabeth.)

" The olde sea wall (he cried) is downe,
— The rising tide comes on apace,
And boats adrift in yonder towne
— Go sailing uppe the market-place. "
He shook as one that looks on death:
" God save you, mother! " straight he saith;
" Where is my wife, Elizabeth? "

" Good sonne, where Lindis winds her way,
— With her two bairns I marked her long;
And ere yon bells beganne to play,
— Afar I heard her milking song. "
He looked across the grassy lea,
To right, to left, " Ho, Enderby! "
They rang " The Brides of Enderby! "

With that he cried and beat his breast;
— For, lo! along the river's bed
A mighty eygre reared his crest,
— And uppe the Lindis raging sped.
It swept with thunderous noises loud;
Shaped like a curling snow-white cloud,
Or like a demon in a shroud.

And rearing Lindis backward pressed,
— Shook all her trembling bankes amaine;
Then madly at the eygre's breast
— Flung uppe her weltering walls again.
Then bankes came downe with ruin and rout —
Then beaten foam flew round about —
Then all the mighty floods were out.

So farre, so fast the eygre drave,
— The heart had hardly time to beat
Before a shallow seething wave
— Sobbed in the grasses at oure feet:
The feet had hardly time to flee
Before it brake against the knee,
And all the world was in the sea.

Upon the roofe we sate that night,
— The noise of bells went sweeping by;
I marked the lofty beacon light
— Stream from the church tower, red and high —
A lurid mark and dread to see;
And awsome bells they were to mee,
That in the dark rang " Enderby. "

They rang the sailor lads to guide
— From roofe to roofe who fearless rowed;
And I — my sonne was at my side,
— And yet the ruddy beacon glowed:
And yet he moaned beneath his breath,
" O come in life, or come in death!
O lost! my love, Elizabeth! "

And didst thou visit him no more?
— Thou didst, thou didst, my daughter deare;
The waters laid thee at his doore,
— Ere yet the early dawn was clear.
Thy pretty bairns in fast embrace,
The lifted sun shone on thy face,
Downe drifted to thy dwelling-place.

That flow strewed wrecks about the grass,
— That ebbe swept out the flocks to sea;
A fatal ebbe and flow, alas!
— To manye more than myne and mee;
But each will mourn his own (she saith);
And sweeter woman ne'er drew breath
Than my sonne's wife, Elizabeth.

I shall never hear her more
By the reedy Lindis shore,
" Cusha! Cusha! Cusha! " calling,
Ere the early dews be falling;
I shall never hear her song,
" Cusha! Cusha! " all along
Where the sunny Lindis floweth,
Goeth, floweth;
From the meads where melick groweth,
— When the water winding down,
— Onward floweth to the town.

I shall never see her more
Where the reeds and rushes quiver,
Shiver, quiver;
Stand beside the sobbing river,
Sobbing, throbbing, in its falling
To the sandy lonesome shore;
I shall never hear her calling,
" Leave your meadow grasses mellow,
Mellow, mellow;
Quit your cowslips, cowslips yellow;
Come uppe, Whitefoot, come uppe, Lightfoot;
Quit your pipes of parsley hollow,
Hollow, hollow;
Come uppe, Lightfoot, rise and follow;
Lightfoot, Whitefoot,
From your clovers lift the head;
Come uppe, Jetty, follow, follow,
Jetty, to the milking shed. "