The People's Fleet

OUT of her darkened fishing-ports they go,

A fleet of little ships, whose every name —

Daffodil, Sea-lark, Rose

and

Surf

and

Snow,

Bums in this blackness like an altar-flame;

Out of her past they sail, three thousand strong,

The people's fleet that never knew its worth,

And every name is a broken phrase of song

To some remembered loveliness on earth.

There's

Barbara Cowie, Comely Bank

and

May,

Christened, at home, in worlds of dawn and dew :

There's

Ruth

and

Kindly Light

and

Robin Gray,

With

Mispah.

(May that simple prayer come true!)

Out of old England's inmost heart they sail,

A fleet of memories that can never fail.

This poem was taken from Alfred Noyes' book The Elfin Artist and other poems, published in 1920 by William Blackwood and Sons.It is in a section entitled Songs of the Trawlers.JS