2. The Meeting
We bearded the garrison first,
The citadel made we our own,
The stout-hearted governor cursed
Till he swallowed it all with a groan;
We hanged him high from the wall
And turned to the helpless town,
As drunk with the dread of it all
The night reeled shuddering down.
The rage of the ones to resist
Was drowned in the vermeil wave
Where the sea-steel sputtered and hissed
Where my bellowing sea-dogs drave;
Yea, driving the lambs to their fold,
So sacked we with never a light
Save that which the seekers for gold
Let flame in the murderous night.
I wandered alone in a way
Unplundered, silent, apart,
And saw when the dawning was grey
A Face look into my heart!
She stood, with the sorrowful eyes,
Where the dawn-ghost haunted the dial,
And I measured the idle sunrise
By the lovelier light of her smile.