July's Poem of the Month

The boy stood on the burning deck
  Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
  Shone round him o'er the dead.

Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
  As born to rule the storm;
A creature of heroic blood,
  A proud, though child-like form.

The flames rolled on–he would not go
  Without his father's word;
That father, faint in death below,
  His voice no longer heard.

He called aloud–'Say, father, say
  if yet my task is done?'
He knew not that the chieftain lay
  Unconscious of his son.

'Speak, father!' Once again he cried,
  'If I may yet be gone!'
And but the booming shots replied,
  And fast the flames rolled on.

Upon his brow he felt their breath,
  And in his waving hair,
And looked from that lone post of death
  In still yet brave despair.

And shouted but once more aloud,
  'My father! Must I stay?'
While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,
  The wreathing fires made way.

They wrapped the ship in splendour wild,
  They caught the flag on high,
And streamed above the gallant child,
  Like banners in the sky.

There came a burst of thunder sound –
   The boy! Oh! Where was he?
Ask of the winds that far around
  With fragments strewed the sea!

With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
  That well had borne their part –
But the noblest thing which perished there
  Was that young faithful heart.

This is another version...

(Anonymous)

The boy stood in the supper-room
Whence all but he had fled;
He'd eaten seven pots of jam
And no amount of bread.

"One crust! One crust! before I bust!"
He cried in accents wild;
He licked the plates, he sucked the spoons -
He was a greedy child.

There came a hideous thunder-clap -
The boy! Oh! Where was he?
Ask of the maid who mopped him up,
The breadcrumbs and the tea