Forty Singing Seamen

Forty Singing Seamen

by Alfred Noyes


"In our lands be Beeres and Lyons of dyvers colours as ye redd, grene, black, and white. And in our land be also unicornes and these Unicornes slee many Lyons.... Also there dare no man make a lye in our lande, for if he dyde he sholde incontynent be sleyn."--Mediaeval Epistle, of Pope Prester John.

I
Across the seas of Wonderland to Mogadore we plodded,
Forty singing seamen in an old black barque,
And we landed in the twilight where a Polyphemus nodded
With his battered moon-eye winking red and yellow through the dark!
For his eye was growing mellow,
Rich and ripe and red and yellow,
As was time, since old Ulysses made him bellow in the dark!
_Cho._--Since Ulysses bunged his eye up with a pine-torch in the dark!

II
_Were_ they mountains in the gloaming or the giant's ugly shoulders
Just beneath the rolling eyeball, with its bleared and vinous glow,
Red and yellow o'er the purple of the pines among the boulders
And the shaggy horror brooding on the sullen slopes below,
_Were_ they pines among the boulders
Or the hair upon his shoulders?
We were only simple seamen, so of course we didn't know.
_Cho._--We were simple singing seamen, so of course we couldn't know.

III
But we crossed a plain of poppies, and we came upon a fountain
Not of water, but of jewels, like a spray of leaping fire;
And behind it, in an emerald glade, beneath a golden mountain
There stood a crystal palace, for a sailor to admire;
For a troop of ghosts came round us,
Which with leaves of bay they crowned us,
Then with grog they well nigh drowned us, to the depth of our desire!
_Cho._--And 'twas very friendly of them, as a sailor can admire!

IV
There was music all about us, we were growing quite forgetful
We were only singing seamen from the dirt of London-town,
Though the nectar that we swallowed seemed to vanish half regretful
As if we wasn't good enough to take such vittles down,
When we saw a sudden figure,
Tall and black as any nigger,
Like the devil--only bigger--drawing near us with a frown!
_Cho._--Like the devil--but much bigger--and he wore a golden crown!

V
And "What's all this?" he growls at us! With dignity we chaunted,
"Forty singing seamen, sir, as won't be put upon!"
"What? Englishmen?" he cries, "Well, if ye don't mind being haunted,
Faith you're welcome to my palace; I'm the famous Prester John!
Will ye walk into my palace?
I don't bear 'ee any malice!
One and all ye shall be welcome in the halls of Prester John!"
_Cho._--So we walked into the palace and the halls of Prester John!

VI
Now the door was one great diamond and the hall a hollow ruby--
Big as Beachy Head, my lads, nay bigger by a half!
And I sees the mate wi' mouth agape, a-staring like a booby,
And the skipper close behind him, with his tongue out like a calf!
Now the way to take it rightly
Was to walk along politely
Just as if you didn't notice--so I couldn't help but laugh!
_Cho._--For they both forgot their manners and the crew was bound to laugh!

VII
But he took us through his palace and, my lads, as I'm a sinner,
We walked into an opal like a sunset-coloured cloud--
"My dining-room," he says, and, quick as light we saw a dinner
Spread before us by the fingers of a hidden fairy crowd;
And the skipper, swaying gently
After dinner, murmurs faintly,
"I looks to-wards you, Prester John, you've done us very proud!"
_Cho._--And we drank his health with honours, for he _done_ us _very_ proud!

VIII
Then he walks us to his garden where we sees a feathered demon
Very splendid and important on a sort of spicy tree!
"That's the Phoenix," whispers Prester, "which all eddicated seamen
Knows the only one existent, and _he's_ waiting for to flee!
When his hundred years expire
Then he'll set hisself a-fire
And another from his ashes rise most beautiful to see!"
_Cho._--With wings of rose and emerald most beautiful to see!

IX
Then he says, "In younder forest there's a little silver river,
And whosoever drinks of it, his youth shall never die!
The centuries go by, but Prester John endures for ever
With his music in the mountains and his magic on the sky!
While _your_ hearts are growing colder,
While your world is growing older,
There's a magic in the distance, where the sea-line meets the sky,"
_Cho._--It shall call to singing seamen till the fount o' song is dry!

X
So we thought we'd up and seek it, but that forest fair defied us,--
First a crimson leopard laughs at us most horrible to see,
Then a sea-green lion came and sniffed and licked his chops and eyed us,
While a red and yellow unicorn was dancing round a tree!
_We_ was trying to look thinner,
Which was hard, because our dinner
Must ha' made us very tempting to a cat o' high degree!
_Cho._--Must ha' made us very tempting to the whole menarjeree!

XI
So we scuttled from that forest and across the poppy meadows
Where the awful shaggy horror brooded o'er us in the dark!
And we pushes out from shore again a-jumping at our shadows,
And pulls away most joyful to the old black barque!
And home again we plodded
While the Polyphemus nodded
With his battered moon-eye winking red and yellow through the dark.
_Cho._--Oh, the moon above the mountains, red and yellow through the dark!

XII
Across the seas of Wonderland to London-town we blundered,
Forty singing seamen as was puzzled for to know
If the visions that we saw was caused by--here again we pondered--
A tipple in a vision forty thousand years ago.
Could the grog we _dreamt_ we swallowed
Make us _dream_ of all that followed?
We were only simple seamen, so of course we didn't know!
_Cho._--We were simple singing seamen, so of course we could not know!