Thursday 27 May 2010

This Week 70 Years Ago...



The little boats of England,
The little motor boats,
The little penny steamers,
From Lands End to John O'Groats.

The Brighton Belle, the Margate Queen,
The Vigilant, The Lark,
The Saucy Jane, The Gracie Fields,
(Even a Noarh's Arc).

Picked up their country's message
That it's back was to the Wall.
There is danger, there is danger,
Will you answer to the call?

Francis Drake, and Collinwood,
And Nelson of the Nile
Were on their quarterdecks again,
-You should have seen them smile.

When all the little boats pushed out
From Dover to Dunkirk,
To heed their country's message,
That was their job of work.

(Sara Carsley.)


Dunkirk, 1940.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sara Carsley, b Lurgan, N Ireland, d 15 Oct 1974, Burnaby, BC Canada

Her poem (9 verses) begins..
On many a lazy river, in many a sparkling bay,
The little boats of Britain were dancing, fresh and gay;

and ends

And many a grimy little tramp, and skiff of painted pride
Went down in thunder to a grave, beneath the bloody tide,
But from the horror-haunted coast, across the snarling foam,
The little boats of Britain brought our men in safety home.

Full many a noble vessel sails the shining seas of fame,
And bears, to ages yet to be, an unforgotten name;
The ships that won Trafalgar's fight, that broke the Armada's pride,-
And the little boats of Britain shall go sailing by their side!

pp 27-28
Invitation to Poetry, An Anthology for Junior Students, Gill & Newell, MacMillan Co of Canada, Ltd, 1956 (copyright from The Ryerson Press, The Artisan)