Mike, Lou: I was able to open the link. Here is Mrs. Douglas poem:
The sea velvet-smooth, blue-black,
The sky set thick with stars unbelievably brilliant.
The horizon a clean-cut circle.
The air motionless, cold - cold as death.
Boundless space.
A small boat waiting, waiting in this vast stillness,
Waiting heart-breakingly.
In the offing a vast ship, light streaming from her portholes.
Her prow on an incline.
Darkness comes to her suddenly.
The huge black bulk stands out in silhouette against the star-lit sky.
Silently the prow sinks deeper,
As if some Titan’s hand,
Inexorable as Fate,
Were drawing the great ship down to her death.
Slowly, slowly, with hardly a ripple
Of that velvet sea,
She sinks out of sight.
Then that vast emptiness
Was suddenly rent
With a terrifying sound.
It rose like a column of heavy smoke.
It was so strong, so imploring, so insistent
One thought it would even reach
The throne of grace on high.
Slowly it lost its force,
Thinned to a tiny wisp of sound,
Then to a pitiful whisper. . . .
Silence.
