Lt-Cmdr R. A. B. Mitchell, 'The Subject'

[duathir.livejournal.com]

The Subject

You say you have no subject
And your brushes all have dried;
But come to Marazion
At the ebbing of the tide.

And look you out to seaward,
Where my Lady battle scarred
Hugs the rock that is more welcome,
Than the shameful breakers yard.

Paint her there upon the sunset
In her glory and despair,
With the diadem of victory
Still in flower upon her hair.

Let her whisper as she settles
Of her blooding long ago,
In the mist than mingles Jutland
With the might of Scapa Flow.

Let her tell you, too, of Narvik
With its snowy hills, and then
Of Matapan, Salerno
And the shoals of Walcheren;
And finally of Malta,
When along the purple street
Came in trail the Roman Navy
To surrender at her feet.

Of all these honours conscious,
How could she bear to be
Delivered to the spoiler
Or severed from the sea ?
So hasten then and paint her
In the last flush of her pride
On the rocks of Marazion,
At the ebbing of the tide.

by Lt-Cmdr R. A. B. Mitchell

(written for HMS Warspite (commissioned 13 Apr. 1915) after she ran aground on the way to the scrapyard)