The Last Buccaneer

The Last Buccaneer

Original Text
The Miscellaneous Writings, Speeches and Poems of Lord Macaulay (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1880): 385. PR 4963 A1 1880a Robarts Library.
1The winds were yelling, the waves were swelling,
2    The sky was black and drear,
3When the crew with eyes of flame brought the ship without a name
4    Alongside the last Buccaneer.
5"Whence flies your sloop full sail before so fierce a gale,
6    When all others drive bare on the seas?
7Say, come ye from the shore of the holy Salvador,
8    Or the gulf of the rich Caribbees?"
9"From a shore no search hath found, from a gulf no line can sound,
10    Without rudder or needle we steer;
11Above, below, our bark, dies the sea fowl and the shark,
12    As we fly by the last Buccaneer.
13"To-night there shall be heard on the rocks of Cape de Verde
14    A loud crash, and a louder roar;
15And to-morrow shall the deep, with a heavy moaning, sweep
16    The corpses and wreck to the shore."
17The stately ship of Clyde securely now may ride
18    In the breath of the citron shades;
19And Severn's towering mast securely now flies fast,
20    Through the sea of the balmy Trades.
21From St. Jago's wealthy port, from Havannah's royal fort,
22    The seaman goes forth without fear;
23For since that stormy night not a mortal hath had sight
24    Of the flag of the last Buccaneer.

Notes

5] sloop: single-mast and single-headsail boat. Back to Line
7] Salvador: Sao Salvador, Bahia, a Brazilian sea-port. Back to Line
8] Caribbees: the Lesser Antilles, islands in the West Indies including Trinidad and Barbados. Back to Line
11] bark: small sailing ship. Back to Line
13] Cape de Verde: islands in the Atlantic off west Africa. Back to Line
17] Clyde: river in Scotland flowing northwest into the Firth of Clyde, a ship-building region. Back to Line
19] Severn: river flowing from central Wales and emptying into the Bristol Channel. Back to Line
20] Trades: trade winds. Back to Line
21] St. Jago: one of the Cape de Verde islands.
Havannah: Havana, Cuba. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1839
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1999.
Rhyme
abcb