[From Punch.]
A lazy sea came washing in
Right through the Harbor mouth,
Where gray and silent, half asleep,
The lords of all the oceans keep,
West, East, and North and South.
The Summer sun spun cloth of gold
Upon the twinkling sea,
And little t.b.d.'s lay close,
Stern near to stern and nose to nose,
And slumbered peacefully.
Oh, bells of Portsmouth Town,
Oh, bells of Portsmouth Town,
You rang of peace upon the seas
Before the leaves turned brown.
A grayish sea goes sweeping in
Beyond the boom today;
The Harbor is a cold, clear space,
For far beyond the Solent's race
The gray-flanked cruisers play.
For it's oh! the long, long night up North,
The sudden twilit day,
Where Portsmouth men cruise up and down,
And all alone in Portsmouth Town
Are women left to pray.
Oh, bells of Portsmouth Town,
Oh, bells of Portsmouth Town,
What will ye ring when once again
The green leaves turn to brown?
[Illustration: The dotted line shows the route of the Emden's
survivors.]