Ruskin logs, 1914-1918 / Alfred Ruskin - Page 118
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[Page 118]
Life on a Destroyer
White with the salt spray forward
Black with the smoke Stacks aft
Reddened with fire and water
Lord! What a hellish craft:
Everything lashed and battened
Everything hanging on
Every vessel that sights her
Thank's God when she's gone.
A Coud of smoke in the distance
A mass of white spume
Madly she dashes onward
Into the deadly gloom.
"Look on the Starboard bow Sir"
"Where? 'ard a port' Steady, so"
Then, in a whisper,
"Give her every bit she'll go".
Shaking as if in Anger
Sobbing as if for breath
Wildly she rushes forward
With her awful load of death.
Down in the Stifling Stokehold
Working in a perfect Hell
Wondering what has happened
God knows, and He won't tell.
Doing their duty blindly
Sweating in every pore
Feeding the firey monster
Devouring more and more.