Poem by John Stagg

Tom Pendant

The winds blew hard, whilst o'er the sky,
Swift from the west the carry drove,
When mounted on the topmast high,
Tom Pendant sung his absent love:
Remember me, Eliza fair,
When tossing o'er the foaming sea,
When numb'd with horror and despair,
Eliza fair, remember me.

Think not, sweet maid, that time can quell
That flame so long my heart has known,
In other climes, tho' beauty dwell,
Yet pleasure lives with thee alone:
My soul still like the needle true,
For ever constant turns to thee,
Each danger braves, in hopes that you,
Eliza fair, remember me.

Thus sung the tar, the gathering gales
Rude o'er the surging ocean sweep,
The vessel drives with beating sails,
Laborious thro' the furrowing deep;
Loud and more loud the whirlwinds rise,
In waves mountaineous rolls the sea,
Yet midst the storm Tom dauntless cries,
Eliza fair, remember me.

Loud peals of thunder rend the sky,
That fill with dread the melting soul,
Around the livid lightnings fly,
With hideous flash from pole to pole:
Yet midst calamity extreme,
Where certain ruin seem'd to be,
Tom constant tun'd his love-lorn theme,
Eliza fair, remember me.

At length a sadly fated rock,
Impedes the vessel's onward course,
She bounds, but soon repeats the shock,
And yields to such unequal force;
Swift thro' the wound the water springs,
Down, down she founders in the sea;
Yet e'en in death, Tom faithful sings,
Eliza fair, remember me.

1. The Panic
2. A Choice
3. Sonnet on Autumn
4. Occasional Reflections
5. The Sapient Ass

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