lirik lagu the building of the ship - hal holbrook
“build me straight, o worthy master!
stanch and strong, a goodly vessel
that shall laugh at all disaster
and with wave and whirlwind wrestle!”
the merchant’s word
delighted the master heard;
for his heart was in his work, and the heart
giveth grace unto every art
a quiet smile played round his lips
as the eddies and dimples of the tide
play round the bows of ships
that steadily at anchor ride
and with a voice that was full of glee
he answered, “erelong we will launch
a vessel as goodly, and strong, and stanch
as еver weatherеd a wintry sea!”
and first with nicest sk!ll and art
perfect and finished in every part
a little model the master wrought
which should be to the larger plan
what the child is to the man
its counterpart in miniature;
that with a hand more swift and sure
the greater labor might be brought
to answer to his inward thought
and as he labored, his mind ran o’er
the various ships that were built of yore
and above them all, and strangest of all
towered the great harry, crank and tall
whose picture was hanging on the wall
with bows and stern raised high in air
and balconies hanging here and there
and signal lanterns and flags afloat
and eight round towers, like those that frown
from some old castle, looking down
upon the drawbridge and the moat
and he said with a smile, “our ship, i wis
shall be of another form than this!”
it was of another form, indeed;
built for freight, and yet for speed
a beautiful and gallant craft;
broad in the beam, that the stress of the blast
pressing down upon sail and mast
might not the sharp bows overwhelm;
broad in the beam, but sloping aft
with graceful curve and slow degrees
that she might be docile to the helm
and that the currents of parted seas
closing behind, with mighty force
might aid and not impede her course
in the ship~yard stood the master
with the model of the vessel
that should laugh at all disaster
and with wave and whirlwind wrestle!
covering many a rood of ground
lay the timber piled around;
timber of chestnut, and elm, and oak
and scattered here and there, with these
the knarred and crooked cedar knees;
brought from regions far away
from pascagoula’s sunny bay
and the banks of the roaring roanoke!
ah! what a wondrous thing it is
to note how many wheels of toil
one thought, one word, can set in motion!
there ‘s not a ship that sails the ocean
but every climate, every soil
must bring its tribute, great or small
and help to build the wooden wall!
the sun was rising o’er the sea
and long the level shadows lay
as if they, too, the beams would be
of some great, airy argosy
framed and launched in a single day
that silent architect, the sun
had hewn and laid them every one
ere the work of man was yet begun
beside the master, when he spoke
a youth, against an anchor leaning
listened, to catch his slightest meaning
only the long waves, as they broke
in ripples on the pebbly beach
interrupted the old man’s speech
beautiful they were, in sooth
the old man and the fiery youth!
the old man, in whose busy brain
many a ship that sailed the main
was modelled o’er and o’er again; —
the fiery youth, who was to be
the heir of his dexterity
the heir of his house, and his daughter’s hand
when he had built and launched from land
what the elder head had planned
“thus,” said he, “will we build this ship!
lay square the blocks upon the slip
and follow well this plan of mine
choose the timbers with greatest care;
of all that is unsound beware;
for only what is sound and strong
to this vessel shall belong
cedar of maine and georgia pine
here together shall combine
a goodly frame, and a goodly fame
and the union be her name!
for the day that gives her to the sea
shall give my daughter unto thee!”
the master’s word
enraptured the young man heard;
and as he turned his face aside
with a look of joy and a thrill of pride
standing before
her father’s door
he saw the form of his promised bride
the sun shone on her golden hair
and her cheek was glowing fresh and fair
with the breath of morn and the soft sea air
like a beauteous barge was she
still at rest on the sandy beach
just beyond the billow’s reach;
but he
was the restless, seething, stormy sea!
ah, how skilful grows the hand
that obeyeth love’s command!
it is the heart, and not the brain
that to the highest doth attain
and he who followeth love’s behest
far excelleth all the rest!
thus with the rising of the sun
was the n0ble task begun
and soon throughout the ship~yard’s bounds
were heard the intermingled sounds
of axes and of mallets, plied
with vigorous arms on every side;
plied so deftly and so well
that, ere the shadows of evening fell
the keel of oak for a n0ble ship
scarfed and bolted, straight and strong
was lying ready, and stretched along
the blocks, well placed upon the slip
happy, thrice happy, every one
who sees his labor well begun
and not perplexed and multiplied
by idly waiting for time and tide!
and when the hot, long day was o’er
the young man at the master’s door
sat with the maiden calm and still
and within the porch, a little more
removed beyond the evening chill
the father sat, and told them tales
of wrecks in the great september gales
of pirates coasting the spanish main
and ships that never came back again
the chance and change of a sailor’s life
want and plenty, rest and strife
his roving fancy, like the wind
that nothing can stay and nothing can bind
and the magic charm of foreign lands
with shadows of palms, and shining sands
where the tumbling surf
o’er the coral reefs of madagascar
washes the feet of the swarthy lascar
as he lies alone and asleep on the turf
and the trembling maiden held her breath
at the tales of that awful, pitiless sea
with all its terror and mystery
the dim, dark sea, so like unto death
that divides and yet unites mankind!
and whenever the old man paused, a gleam
from the bowl of his pipe would awhile illume
the silent group in the twilight gloom
and thoughtful faces, as in a dream;
and for a moment one might mark
what had been hidden by the dark
that the head of the maiden lay at rest
tenderly, on the young man’s breast!
day by day the vessel grew
with timbers fashioned strong and true
stemson and keelson and sternson~knee
till, framed with perfect symmetry
a skeleton ship rose up to view!
and around the bows and along the side
the heavy hammers and mallets plied
till after many a week, at length
wonderful for form and strength
sublime in its enormous bulk
loomed aloft the shadowy hulk!
and around it columns of smoke, upwreathing
rose from the boiling, bubbling, seething
caldron, that glowed
and overflowed
with the black tar, heated for the sheathing
and amid the clamors
of clattering hammers
he who listened heard now and then
the song of the master and his men: —
“build me straight, o worthy master
staunch and strong, a goodly vessel
that shall laugh at all disaster
and with wave and whirlwind wrestle!”
with oaken brace and copper band
lay the rudder on the sand
that, like a thought, should have control
over the movement of the whole;
and near it the anchor, whose giant hand
would reach down and grapple with the land
and immovable and fast
hold the great ship against the bellowing blast!
and at the bows an image stood
by a cunning artist carved in wood
with robes of white, that far behind
seemed to be fluttering in the wind
it was not shaped in a classic mould
not like a nymph or goddess of old
or naiad rising from the water
but modelled from the master’s daughter!
on many a dreary and misty night
‘t will be seen by the rays of the signal light
speeding along through the rain and the dark
like a ghost in its snow~white sark
the pilot of some phantom bark
guiding the vessel, in its flight
by a path none other knows aright!
behold, at last
each tall and tapering mast
is swung into its place;
shrouds and stays
holding it firm and fast!
long ago
in the deer~haunted forests of maine
when upon mountain and plain
lay the snow
they fell, — those lordly pines!
those grand, majestic pines!
‘mid shouts and cheers
the jaded steers
panting beneath the goad
dragged down the weary, winding road
those captive kings so straight and tall
to be sh~rn of their streaming hair
and naked and bare
to feel the stress and the strain
of the wind and the reeling main
whose roar
would remind them forevermore
of their native forests they should not see again
and everywhere
the slender, graceful spars
poise aloft in the air
and at the mast~head
white, blue, and red
a flag unrolls the stripes and stars
ah! when the wanderer, lonely, friendless
in foreign harbors shall behold
that flag unrolled
‘t will be as a friendly hand
stretched out from his native land
filling his heart with memories sweet and endless!
all is finished! and at length
has come the bridal day
of beauty and of strength
to~day the vessel shall be launched!
with fleecy clouds the sky is blanched
and o’er the bay
slowly, in all his splendors dight
the great sun rises to behold the sight
the ocean old
centuries old
strong as youth, and as uncontrolled
paces restless to and fro
up and down the sands of gold
his beating heart is not at rest;
and far and wide
with ceaseless flow
his beard of snow
heaves with the heaving of his breast
he waits impatient for his bride
there she stands
with her foot upon the sands
decked with flags and streamers gay
in honor of her marriage day
her snow~white signals fluttering, blending
round her like a veil descending
ready to be
the bride of the gray old sea
on the deck another bride
is standing by her lover’s side
shadows from the flags and shrouds
like the shadows cast by clouds
broken by many a sunny fleck
fall around them on the deck
the prayer is said
the service read
the joyous bridegroom bows his head;
and in tears the good old master
shakes the brown hand of his son
kisses his daughter’s glowing cheek
in silence, for he cannot speak
and ever faster
down his own the tears begin to run
the worthy pastor —
the shepherd of that wandering flock
that has the ocean for its wold
that has the vessel for its fold
leaping ever from rock to rock —
spake, with accents mild and clear
words of warning, words of cheer
but tedious to the bridegroom’s ear
he knew the chart
of the sailor’s heart
all its pleasures and its griefs
all its shallows and rocky reefs
all those secret currents, that flow
with such resistless undertow
and lift and drift, with terrible force
the will from its moorings and its course
therefore he spake, and thus said he: —
“like unto ships far off at sea
outward or homeward bound, are we
before, behind, and all around
floats and swings the horizon’s bound
seems at its distant rim to rise
and climb the crystal wall of the skies
and then again to turn and sink
as if we could slide from its outer brink
ah! it is not the sea
it is not the sea that sinks and shelves
but ourselves
that rock and rise
with endless and uneasy motion
now touching the very skies
now sinking into the depths of ocean
ah! if our souls but poise and swing
like the compass in its brazen ring
ever level and ever true
to the toil and the task we have to do
we shall sail securely, and safely reach
the fortunate isles, on whose shining beach
the sights we see, and the sounds we hear
will be those of joy and not of fear!”
then the master
with a gesture of command
waved his hand;
and at the word
loud and sudden there was heard
all around them and below
the sound of hammers, blow on blow
knocking away the shores and spurs
and see! she stirs!
she starts, — she moves, — she seems to feel
the thrill of life along her keel
and, spurning with her foot the ground
with one exulting, joyous bound
she leaps into the ocean’s arms!
and lo! from the assembled crowd
there rose a shout, prolonged and loud
that to the ocean seemed to say
“take her, o bridegroom, old and gray
take her to thy protecting arms
with all her youth and all her charms!”
how beautiful she is! how fair
she lies within those arms, that press
her form with many a soft caress
of tenderness and watchful care!
sail forth into the sea, o ship!
through wind and wave, right onward steer!
the moistened eye, the trembling lip
are not the signs of doubt or fear
sail forth into the sea of life
o gentle, loving, trusting wife
and safe from all adversity
upon the bosom of that sea
thy comings and thy goings be!
for gentleness and love and trust
prevail o’er angry wave and gust;
and in the wreck of n0ble lives
something immortal still survives!
thou, too, sail on, o ship of state!
sail on, o union, strong and great!
humanity with all its fears
with all the hopes of future years
is hanging breathless on thy fate!
we know what master laid thy keel
what workmen wrought thy ribs of steel
who made each mast, and sail, and rope
what anvils rang, what hammers beat
in what a forge and what a heat
were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
fear not each sudden sound and shock
‘t is of the wave and not the rock;
‘t is but the flapping of the sail
and not a rent made by the gale!
in spite of rock and tempest’s roar
in spite of false lights on the shore
sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee
our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears
our faith triumphant o’er our fears
are all with thee, — are all with thee!
Lirik lagu lainnya:
- lirik lagu hey bad bitches! (nightcore) - d3r
- lirik lagu b4 gta 6 - 1080 tay
- lirik lagu la paume d’apple - despo rutti (majster)
- lirik lagu thanato phobia - dismal (sexuto)
- lirik lagu cendrillon - maink
- lirik lagu ~누구보다 반짝일 너를 위해~ (special) - gmi (개모임) (kor)
- lirik lagu contradictions - darkbluecat
- lirik lagu executive maids - dawn zapf
- lirik lagu desaciertos - rafaell cocoa & young rebxl
- lirik lagu back (pastiche/remix/mashup) - chilli vanilli & brass knuckle