Stanzas,
Written during a voyage in search of a
North-west Passage, and addressed to a
Northern Princess.
Oh ! pretty Polar lady !1
Doth thy bearded bosom beat,2
That breast so sweetly shady,3
With an unaccustomed heat ?4
Dark, oily, Polar woman !5
Lay aside thy freezing airs,6
And take to something human,7
In the room of boors and bears.8
I’m an officer! my jacket9
Will tell thee what I am ;10
No master of a packet,11
My pretty Polar dame !12
But a sailor with old Jervis,13
A man of royal blue ;14
Kings send me on their service,15
And their service send to you.16
Thy Husband, from his swooning17
At thy flight will soon arise ;18
And go about harpooning19
The sorrow from his eyes :20
And he’ll be no more a rubber21
Of wet sockets ; but he’ll seek,22
With a wiser kind of blubber,23
To pacify his cheek.24
Thine eyes are dark and roving,25
My pretty Polar sun !26
Oh, they’re very full of loving,27
And extremely full of fun.28
The mate attracts thine ogling ;29
But, oh, my fair ! thy fate30
Don’t now be after boggling ;31
But take me for thy mate,32
The ruby tide is rushing33
To that shadowy cheek ; and, oh,34
So heavenly is that blushing,35
It shames the ruby snow.36
All things thine eye doth snatch at37
With a kind of amorous fear ;38
Ah, do not steal the hatchet ;39
My pretty Polar dear !40
Give up ice-fields, where no hedges41
Are full of bloom or birds,42
Give up bear-skins, give up sledges,43
Give up all thy barking herds :44
Come to England, let me marry thee,45
And trees shall be thy own ;46
And a neat post-chaise shall carry thee47
From Chatham up to town.48