The Atlantic Queen <br />the best they'd seen <br />set sail upon the tide <br />she sailed from Portsmouth harbour <br />her mains agape and wide <br />and keen her crew <br />for none refused <br />to put foot on her deck <br />a tarry lot of mariners <br />young jacks and leathernecks <br /> <br />And ho to sea <br />they put the Queen <br />her belly trinket full <br />to pillage kings of southern seas <br />and undermine their rule <br />so there she waves the union brave <br />a skipping out of sight <br />beyond the coast into the wave <br />till sundown meets the night <br /> <br />Then morning woke the tarry lot <br />and morning came again <br />eight more would pass <br />untill the last <br />of Queen and tarry men <br /> <br />And on that fateful morning <br />just ten days from the shore <br />the crew worked as they'd always done <br />oblivious to the core <br />then somthing changed their mind and mood <br />a pinkish kind of haze <br />it covered all on board the ship <br />its heat a firery rage <br /> <br />And as the heat grew tenser <br />it scorched their eyes and scalp <br />it set fire to masts and sails <br />refusing to go out <br />tar boiled on the rigging <br />and burst up into flame <br />like some great whip it lashed around <br />igniting ship and frame <br /> <br />With burning flesh the men gave up <br />their skin a putrid hue <br />they fought with all their might that day <br />but nothing could they do <br />so alone the mighty Queen <br />went sinking to the grave <br />and all was lost that tragic morn <br />except a pinky haze.<br /><br />Charles M. Moore<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-atlantic-queen/
