Classic Poem

BY M AISTRE John A I SCAM .

I.

A RIGOROUS doom is mine, upon my fay,
Before the parent-star, the lightsome sun,
Hath three times lighted up the cheerful day,
To other realms must Lamyngetowne be gone,
Or else my flimsy thread of life is spun.
And shall I hearken to a coward's rede,
And from so vain a shade as life is, run?
No! fly all thoughts of running to the Queed;
No! here I'll stay, and let the cockneys see
That Lamyngetowne the brave will Lamyngetowne still be.

II.

To fight, and not to flee, my sabatans
I'll don, and gird my sword unto my side;
I'll go to ship, but not to foreign lands,
But act the pirate, rob in every tide;
With cockneys' blood shall Thamesis be dyed.
Their goods in Bristol market shall be sold,
My bark the laverd of the waters ride,
Her sails of scarlet and her stere of gold;
My men the Saxons, I the Hengist, be,
And in my ship combine the force of all their three.

III.

Go to my trusty men in Selwood's chase
That through the thicket hunt the burled boar;
Tell them how stands with me the present case,
And bid them revel down at Watchet's shore,
And saunt about in halkes and woods no more;
Let each adventurous knight his armour brace,
Their meats be man's flesh, and their beverage gore,
Hancele, or hanceled from, the human race.
Bid them, like me their leader, shape their mind
To be a bloody foe, in arms 'gainst all mankind.
Ralph . I go my boon-companions for to find.

IV.

Lam . Unfaithful cockney dogs! your God is gain.
When in your town I spent my great estate,
What crowds of cits came flocking to my train,
What shoals of tradesmen ate then from my plate!
My name was always Laymyngetowne the great.
But when my wealth was gone, ye kenn'd me not,
I stood in ward, ye laughed at my fate,
Nor cared if Laymyngetowne the great did rot.
But know, ye curriedowes, ye soon shall feel,
I've got experience now, although I bought it weel.

V.

You let me know that all the world are knaves,
That lords and cits are robbers in disguise;
I and my men, the cockneys of the waves,
Will profit by your lessons and be wise;
Make you give back the harvest of your lies;
From deep-fraught barks I'll take the miser's soul,
Make all the wealth of every [man] my prize,
And, cheating London's pride, to digner Bristol roll.

*****

VI.

Lamingtowne, Philpott, and Robyne.

Lam . Thou sayest, man, that thou would'st go with me,
And bear a part in all my men's emprise;
Think well upon the dangers of the sea,
And guess if that will not thee recradize,
When through the skies the levin-brande flies,
And levins sparkle in the whited oundes,
Seeming to rise at lepestones to the skies,
And not contented be with its set bounds.
Then rolls the bark and tosses to and fro;
Such dreary scenes as this will cast thy blood, I trow.

VII.

Think, when with bloody axes in our hands,
We are to fight for gold and silver too,
On neighbour's myndbruch life no one then stands,
But all his aim and end is — death to do.

Rob . I've thought on all and am resolved to go;
Fortune! no more I'll be thy taunted slave,
Once was I great, now plunged in want and woe,
I'll go and be a pick-hatch of the wave.
Goods I have none, and life I do disdain,
I'll be a victor, or I'll break my galling chain.
I'll wash my hands in blood and deal in death,
Our ship shall blow along with winds of dying breath.

VIII.

Lam . I like thy courage, and I'll tell thy doom,
Thou wilt hereafter a brave captain be;
Go thou to Bristol, stay until we come,
For there we shall, haply, have need of thee;
And for a tight and shapely warehouse see
Wherein to put the chattels we shall bring,
And know if there two cockney knaves may be,
Philpott and Walworth; so report doth sing;
If so, I'll trounce the usurer, by my fay!
There's monies, man, for thee — Ralph! take the things away
Which we from Watchet town have taken now;
In the bark's bottom see the same thou stow.
Ral . Master of mine, I go as you do say.
Rob . And I to Bristol town will haste away.