An Open Boat by Alfred Noyes
o, what is that whimpering there in the darkness :
'Let him lle in my arms. He is breathing, I know!
Look I'll wrap all my hair round his neck The sea's rising
The boat must be lightened. He's dead. He must go.
See - qulck - by that flash, where the bitter foam tosses,
The cloud of white faces, in the black open boat,
SPAnd the wild pleading woman that clasps her dead lover
And wraps her loose halr round hls breast and his throatse
'Come, lady, he's dead. - 'No, I feel his heart beating
He's living. I know. But he's numbed with the cold.
See, I'm wrapping my hair all around him to warm him.' ---
'No. We can't keep the dead, dear. Come, loosen your hold.322
'Come. Loosen your fingers. - O God, let me keep hlm 2
O, hide it, black night! Let the winds have their wayı
And there are no voices or ghosts from that darkness,
To fret the bare seas at the breaking of day.
The rhyme scheme of "An Open Boat" is ABCD, AABC, ABBA, ABAB