The Destroyer
Author Unknown
Out of the night it came, that menace of the seas,
Unmarked by sound and unobserved, its prey of soul to
seize;
A pallid shape, dim in the fog, a monster, on it came.
And wallowed in the ocean path, its toll of deaths to claim.
All boasts of modern safegaurds, mere affectations were;
Inventive minds it mocked and giant ship seemed dwarfs to her.
That mammoth ship, with amour plate, was but a cockle-
shell,
And when its unseen hand reached out, with ease the giant
fell.
And then it laughed; it closed its hand; then watched the
work it wrought;
The frenzied screams of dying men, sweet music to it
brought.
Unmoved it stood, with eager mien, sweet fifteen hundred
souls
Went struggling down for evermore to rest in watery holes.
Its evil deed accomplished, it drew a conquering breath,
And all about the wreckage, a shadow cast-of Death.
The mightiest of giant ships had just obeyed its nod,
And fifteen hundred souls their final voyage made- to God.
