Guards Came Through and other Poems

<h2><SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_47" title="47"> </SPAN>THE WRECK ON LOCH McGARRY</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line"><span class="small-caps">If</span> you should search all Scotland round,</div> <div class="line indent2">The mainland, skerries, and the islands,</div> <div class="line">A grimmer spot could not be found</div> <div class="line indent2">Than Loch McGarry in the Highlands.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Pent in by frowning mountains high,</div> <div class="line indent2">It stretches silent as the tomb,</div> <div class="line">Turbid and thick its waters lie,</div> <div class="line indent2">No eye can pierce their yellow gloom.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">'Twas here that on a summer day</div> <div class="line indent2">Four tourists hired a crazy wherry.</div> <div class="line">No warning voices bade them stay,</div> <div class="line indent2">As they pushed out on Loch McGarry.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_48" title="48"> </SPAN> <div class="line">McFarlane, Chairman of the Board,</div> <div class="line indent2">A grim hard-fisted son of lucre,</div> <div class="line">His thoughts were ever on his hoard,</div> <div class="line indent2">And life a money-game, like Euchre.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Bob Ainslie, late of London Town,</div> <div class="line indent2">A spruce young butterfly of fashion,</div> <div class="line">A wrinkle in his dressing-gown</div> <div class="line indent2">Would rouse an apoplectic passion.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">John Waters, John the self-absorbed,</div> <div class="line indent2">With thoughts for ever inward bent,</div> <div class="line">Complacent, self-contained, self-orbed,</div> <div class="line indent2">Wrapped in eternal self-content.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Lastly coquettish Mrs. Wild,</div> <div class="line indent2">Chattering, rowdy, empty-headed;</div> <div class="line">At sight of her the whole world smiled,</div> <div class="line indent2">Except the wretch whom she had wedded.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_49" title="49"> </SPAN> <div class="line">Such were the four who sailed that day,</div> <div class="line indent2">To the Highlands each a stranger;</div> <div class="line">Sunlit and calm the wide loch lay,</div> <div class="line indent2">With not a hint of coming danger.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Drifting they watched the heather hue,</div> <div class="line indent2">The waters and the cliffs that bound them;</div> <div class="line">The air was still, the sky was blue,</div> <div class="line indent2">Deceitful peace lay all around them.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">McFarlane pondered on the stocks,</div> <div class="line indent2">John Waters on his own perfection,</div> <div class="line">Bob Ainslie's thoughts were on his socks,</div> <div class="line indent2">And Mrs. Wild's on her complexion.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">When sudden&mdash;oh, that dreadful scream!</div> <div class="line indent2">That cry from panic fear begotten!</div> <div class="line">The boat is gaping in each seam,</div> <div class="line indent2">The worn-out planks are old and rotten.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_50" title="50"> </SPAN> <div class="line">With two small oars they work and strain,</div> <div class="line indent2">A long mile from the nearer shore</div> <div class="line">They cease&mdash;their efforts are in vain;</div> <div class="line indent2">She's sinking fast, and all is o'er.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">The yellow water, thick as pap,</div> <div class="line indent2">Is crawling, crawling to the thwarts,</div> <div class="line">And as they mark its upward lap,</div> <div class="line indent2">So fear goes crawling up their hearts.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Slowly, slowly, thick as pap,</div> <div class="line indent2">The creeping yellow waters rise;</div> <div class="line">Like drowning mice within a trap,</div> <div class="line indent2">They stare around with frantic eyes.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Ah, how clearly they could see</div> <div class="line indent2">Every sin and shame and error!</div> <div class="line">How they vowed that saints they'd be,</div> <div class="line indent2">If delivered from this terror!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_51" title="51"> </SPAN> <div class="line">How they squirmed and how they squealed!</div> <div class="line indent2">How they shouted for assistance!</div> <div class="line">How they fruitlessly appealed</div> <div class="line indent2">To the shepherds in the distance!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">How they sobbed and how they moaned,</div> <div class="line indent2">As the waters kept encroaching!</div> <div class="line">How they wept and stormed and groaned,</div> <div class="line indent2">As they saw their fate approaching!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">And they vowed each good resolve</div> <div class="line indent2">Should be permanent as granite,</div> <div class="line">Never, never, to dissolve,</div> <div class="line indent2">Firm and lasting like our planet.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">See them sit, aghast and shrinking!</div> <div class="line indent2">Surely it could not be true!</div> <div class="line">&ldquo;Oh, have mercy! Oh, we're sinking!</div> <div class="line indent2">Oh, good Lord, what <em>shall</em> we do!&rdquo;</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_52" title="52"> </SPAN> <div class="line">Ah, it's coming! Now she founders!</div> <div class="line indent2">See the crazy wherry reel!</div> <div class="line">Downward to the rocks she flounders&mdash;</div> <div class="line indent2">Just one foot beneath her keel!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">In the shallow, turbid water</div> <div class="line indent2">Lay the saving reef below.</div> <div class="line">Oh, the waste of high emotion!</div> <div class="line indent2">Oh, the useless fear and woe!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Late that day four sopping tourists</div> <div class="line indent2">To their quarters made their way,</div> <div class="line">And the brushes of Futurists</div> <div class="line indent2">Scarce could paint their disarray.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">And with half-amused compassion</div> <div class="line indent2">They were viewed from the hotel,</div> <div class="line">From the pulp-clad beau of fashion,</div> <div class="line indent2">To the saturated belle.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_53" title="53"> </SPAN> <div class="line">But a change was in their features,</div> <div class="line indent2">And that change has come to tarry,</div> <div class="line">For they all are altered creatures</div> <div class="line indent2">Since the wreck of Loch McGarry.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Now McFarlane never utters</div> <div class="line indent2">Any talk of bills or bullion,</div> <div class="line">But continually mutters</div> <div class="line indent2">Texts from Cyril or Tertullian.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">As to Ainslie, he's not caring</div> <div class="line indent2">How the new-cut collar lies,</div> <div class="line">And has been detected wearing</div> <div class="line indent2">Dinner-jackets with white ties.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Waters, who had never thought</div> <div class="line indent2">In his life of others' needs,</div> <div class="line">Has most generously bought</div> <div class="line indent2">A nursing-home for invalids.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_54" title="54"> </SPAN> <div class="line">And the lady&mdash;ah, the lady!</div> <div class="line indent2">She has turned from paths of sin,</div> <div class="line">And her husband's face so shady</div> <div class="line indent2">Now is brightened by a grin.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">So misfortunes of to-day</div> <div class="line indent2">Are the blessings of to-morrow,</div> <div class="line">And the wisest cannot say</div> <div class="line indent2">What is joy and what is sorrow.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">If your soul is arable</div> <div class="line indent2">You can start this seed within it,</div> <div class="line">And my tiny parable</div> <div class="line indent2">May just help you to begin it.</div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />