PIEŚŃ PIERWSZA.
I.
Nadeszła ranna na okręcie warta,
Płynęła nawa lekko kołysana,
A za nią fala połyska rozdarta,
Jak w skiby pługiem olbrzymim orana;
Przed nawą tylko sinych wód przestworza,
Po za nią wyspy australskiego morza.
Cicha noc kona, jej cienia ruchome
Po oceanie rozprószyła zorza,
Delfiny, jakby przyjścia dnia świadome,
Pływały chyżo, promieni łakome.
Gwiazdy w błękicie wód odbite jasno,
Już przed jaśniejszym świtu blaskiem gasną,
Ciemne wprzód żagle znowu zabielały -
I wiatry świeższem oddechem powiały,
Słońce zwiastował ocean czerwony,
Lecz nim dzień błyśnie - ma być czyn spełniony.
II.
W swojej kajucie spoczął wódz waleczny,
We wybór straży zaufał bezpieczny;
We śnie Albionu widział brzegi lube,
Trudów nagrodę i zapasów chlubę,
Bo swoje imię w tych umieścił rzędzie
Co śledzą drogi przez biegunów lody,
Przebył najgorsze, i resztę przebędzie,
Dla czegoż nie miał użyć snu swobody?
Ale niestety! na jego pokładzie
Niechęć o czarnej już przemyślą zdradzie;
Jego żeglarzy tęskni umysł młody,
Do owych wysp słonecznego świata,
Gdzie kobiet wdzięki równe żarom lata,
Oni swych ojców rzuciwszy spuścizny,
Z dawna od własnej odwykli ojczyzny,
I na pół dzicy, dzikich ludzi groty
Nad fal niepewnych przenoszą kłopoty.
Słodkie owoców dojrzałych syropy,
I las co ludzkiej jeszcze nie zna stopy,
Pola, zasiane z obfitości roga,
Kraj, gdzie nie gniecie żadna przemoc sroga
Chęć, którą wieki w ludziach nie wygaszą,
Nie zaznać pana oprócz własnej chęci,
Te młode dusze do tych wysp nęci,
Gdzie warstwy złota lice ziemi kraszą,
Gdzie każda grota jest domem swobody,
Każdy krok wolny, gdzie ogrodem niwy,
Gdzie cały naród jest dzieckiem przyrody,
Wesoły, wolny, dziki lecz szczęśliwy,
Tam muszla, owoc i czółenko małe,
To wszystkie skarby, to bogactwo całe;
Łowy, żegluga, jedynem igrzyskiem.
A Europejczyk najnowszem zjawiskiem.
Taki był kraj ten, którego pragnęli;
Drogo te żądze okupić musieli.
CANTO THE THIRD.
I.
The fight was o'er; the flashing through the gloom,
Which robes the cannon as he wings a tomb,
Had ceased; and sulphury vapours upward driven
Had left the Earth, and but polluted Heaven:
The rattling roar which rung in every volley
Had left the echoes to their melancholy;
No more they shrieked their horror, boom for boom;
The strife was done, the vanquished had their doom;
The mutineers were crushed, dispersed, or ta'en,
Or lived to deem the happiest were the slain.
Few, few escaped, and these were hunted o'er
The isle they loved beyond their native shore.
No further home was theirs, it seemed, on earth,
Once renegades to that which gave them birth;
Tracked like wild beasts, like them they sought the wild,
As to a Mother's bosom flies the child;
But vainly wolves and lions seek their den,
And still more vainly, men escape from men,
CANTO THE FIRST.
I.
The Morning watch was come; the Vessel lay
Her course, and gently made her liquid way;
The cloven billow flashed from off her prow
In furrows formed by that majestic plough;
The Waters with their World were all before;
Behind, the South Sea's many an Islet shore.
The quiet night, now dappling, 'gan to wane,
Dividing darkness from the dawning main;
The Dolphins, not unconscious of the day,
Swam high, as eager of the coming ray;
The stars from broader beams began to creep,
And lift their shining eyelids from the deep;
The Sail resumed its lately shadowed white,
And the Wind fluttered with a freshening flight;
The purpling Ocean owns the coming Sun,
But ere he break - a deed is to be done.
II.
The gallant Chief within his Cabin slept,
Secure in those by whom the watch was kept:
His dreams were of Old England's welcome shore,
Of toils rewarded, and of dangers o'er;
His name was added to the glorious roll
Of those who search the Storm-surrounded Pole.
The worst was over, and the rest seemed sure,
And why should not his Slumber be secure?
Alas! his deck was trod by unwilling feet,
And wilder hands would hold the Vessel's sheet;
Young hearts, which languished for some sunny isle,
Where Summer years and Summer women smile;
Men without country, who, too long estranged,
Had found no native home, or found it changed,
And, half uncivilised, preferred the cave
Of some soft savage to the uncertain Wave -
The gushing fruits that Nature gave untilled;
The wood without a path - but where they willed;
The field o'er which promiscuous Plenty poured
Her horn; the equal land without a lord;
The wish - which ages have not yet subdued
In man - to have no master save his mood.
The Earth, whose mine was on its face, unsold,
The glowing Sun and produce all its gold;
The Freedom which can call each grot a home;
The general garden, where all steps may roam,
Where Nature owns a nation as her child,
Exulting in the enjoyment of the wild;
Their shells, their fruits, the only wealth they know,
Their unexploring navy, the canoe;
Their sport, the dashing breakers and the chase;
Their strangest sight, an European face: -
Such was the country which these strangers yearned
To see again - a sight they dearly earned.
