John Boyle O'Reilly

“ He ceased—a deathlike silence reigned—the tempest and the sea
Were hushed in sudden stillness by their ruler's dread decree.
All motionless the vessel rode within the gathering gloom;
The Dutchman stood upon the poop and heard his awful doom;
The mariners were on the deck, in swooning terror prone;
Their hearts blood froze—they, too, were doomed; in angered mighty tone,
The awful words swept o'er the deep—"Go wretch!, accursed!, condemned!
Go sail forever on the deep, by angry tempests hemmed! ”

“ Against the tempest struggling, still the phantom ship is seen
Across the billows dashing; and 'tis said that every word
Of her captain's awful blasphemy upon the gale is heard.
But heaven help the hapless crew that impious sentence hears;
The doom of those is sealed to whom that fatal ship appears:
They'll never reach their destined port—they'll see their homes no more
They who see the flying Dutchman, never, never, reach the shore
J.B. O'Reilly. ”

“ Oh! hapless crew, you little dream, as onward still you go,
That o'er your ill-fated ship is hung a doom of woe.
Again the stormy Cape draws near, and furious billows rise,
And once again the Dutchman's laugh, both wind and wave defies.
But fiercely swept the tempest ere the scornful laugh had died,
A warning to the daring man to curb his impious pride. ”