LESSON 32 A DUTCH PICTURE

A DUTCH PICTURE

Simon Danz has come home again

From cruising about with his buccaneers;

He has singed the beard of the King of Spain

And carried away the Dean of Jaen [1]

And sold him in Algiers [2] .

In his house by the Maese [3] , with its roof of tiles,

And weathercocks flying aloft in air,

There are silver tankards [4] of antique [5] styles,

Plunder of convent and castle, and piles

Of carpets rich and rare.

In his tulip-garden there by the town,

Overlooking the sluggish stream,

With his Moorish cap and dressing-gown

The old sea-captain, hale [6] and brown,

Walks in a waking dream.

THE OLD SEA CAPTAIN, HALE AND BROWN, WALKS IN A WAKING DREAM

A smile in his grey mustachio lurks

Whenever he thinks of the King of Spain;

And the listed [7] tulips look like Turks,

And the silent gardener as he works

Is changed to the Dean of Jaen.

The windmills on the outermost

Verge of the landscape in the haze,

To him are towers on the Spanish coast,

With whiskered sentinels at their post,

Though this is the river Maese.

But when the winter rains begin,

He sits and smokes by the blazing brands [8] ,

And old seafaring men come in,

Goat-bearded, grey, and with double chin,

And rings upon their hands.

They sit there in the shadow and shine

Of the flickering fire of the winter night;

Figures in colour and design

Like those by Rembrandt [9] of the Rhine,

Half darkness and half light.

Restless at times, with heavy strides

He paces his parlour to and fro;

He is like a ship that at anchor rides

And swings with the rising and falling tides

And tugs at her anchor-tow.

Voices mysterious far and near,

Sound of the wind and sound of the sea,

Are calling and whispering in his ear,

Simon Danz! Why stayest thou here? Come forth and follow me!

So he thinks he shall take to the sea again

For one more cruise with his buccaneers,

To singe the beard of the King of Spain,

And capture another Dean of Jaen

And sell him in Algiers.

—HENRY LONGFELLOW

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[1] Jaen: A town in southern Spain.

[2] Algiers: A town in northern Africa.

[3] Maese: River in Holland.

[4] tankards: Large drinking-pots.

[5] antique: Old.

[6] hale: Full of life, in good health.

[7] listed: Marked with the names of each variety.

[8] brands: Pieces of burning wood.

[9] Rembrandt: A famous painter.