Page:Poems for the Sea.djvu/52

 When first our flag Was rear'd o'er Mexico,&mdash;the land of gold, I touch'd upon that wondrous coast, and there Invested all my gains. So, I must go Thither and be made rich! Hear me, my wife. 'Tis but this once, and then I shall return With wealth untold."                             "Oh! let us be content," She fain had said, but saw it was in vain. A marble paleness o'er her features stole, And when it fled, left a fix'd purpose there To go with him.                             Though earnestly he strove To paint the hardships of the sea, fierce storms, Privations, nameless dangers, all unfit For one so delicate; yet still the wife Clave to her husband.                              Mournful kindred spake Dissuasively of peril, and the pang Of dire sea-sickness, far away from all Her sympathising sex; and of the life,