Poem by Menella Bute Smedley

Two Boys

Two boys stood on a height
Reading their coming lives in earth and sky;
One clapp'd his hands in gay delight,
And cried, “How grand a sailor-king am I!”
The other did not even see the waves
That beat against the cliff in harmless strife;

I think he thought the world was only graves,—
I think he thought the skies were only life.
One cried, “How grand a king!
For I shall hold the storm-wind in my hand;
Shall crush the storm-beasts as they spring,
And battle with the waves,—Ah, ha! how grand!
I on my deck am mighty lord of all,
A monarch must obey my lightest breath,
Each sign I give—each word that I let fall
Are to a hundred creatures life or death!”

“Oh, life!” the other cried;
Oh, death! what are they? death is life alone,
And if the tempest drown thy pride,
And if thy word brings death, life is unknown;
From me shall spring the only life in life.
The only life in death; let tempests fall—
Let dreadful storm-beasts crush us in the strife,
The death they bring, brings life, best life of all!”

1. The Little Fair Soul
2. The Little Schooner
3. The Six Burghers of Calais
4. A Sea-Side Fancy
5. Song (Take me from these dreary shades)

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