Titanic Poem by Valerie Dohren

100th Anniversary Poem

(Considered to be the greatest maritime
disaster of all time - 14/15 April 1912)


Fair maiden of the ocean deep (1)
This mighty vessel lost to sleep
A jewel `neath a moonless sky
`Twas fate that she so soon would die

Against the ice her doom was sealed (2)
Just ten percent of it revealed
As close against its buried side
With grace and dignity to glide

The greater part was hid below (3)
(An icy mass of frozen snow)
A jagg`ed fortress `neath the sea
A dark, unseen catastrophe

Her belly slashed, then set to die, (4)
(Upon the ocean bed to lie)
Into her hull the ocean gushed
People and objects swirled and crushed

But no-one listened to her cries (5)
Nor even to her calls did rise
And none aknowledged all her flares
Nor sought to answer all her prayers

Two hours and forty minutes passed (6)
With all her charges holding fast
Just twenty lifeboats, not yet filled,
(And fifteen hundred hearts were stilled)

Water seeping into her heart (7)
Tearing her very soul apart
Invincible of White Star Line
She lurched, she groaned, with severed spine

O`er time a saviour ship arrived (8)
To aid the ones who had survived
To take them thus into her care
A ship of safety anchored there

But in the darkness of the night (9)
In ice-cold waters void of light
Bounced scattered souls upon the waves
Descending to their watery graves

Then all the while, when hope was gone, (10)
In calm repose the band played on
(`Nearer My God To Thee, ` they think)
As, with grace, she started to sink

One hundred years her memory (11)
Still lingers `neath the raging sea
Within the hearts of all bereft
Of those whose lives have long since left

They said that sink she never could (12)
But oh, dear God, she surely would!
Invincible of White Star Line
She lurched, she groaned, with severed spine

And though one century has passed
Lost souls in memories are cast
Their eyes as stars in heaven dwell
Reflected in the ocean`s swell

With tales of life and secrets kept
Of those who loved and those who wept
Your stories you will never tell
Farewell, my friends, farewell, farewell...

The sun upon the shimm`ring sea
Will ever your companion be

-

Verse 1:
10 April 1912 - depart Southampton bound for
New York - North Atlantic crossing.

Verse 2:
14 April 1912 at 11: 40 pm she hit an iceberg -
she was travelling too fast and had taken a
more northerly route than was appropriate for
that time of year.

Verse 3:
The iceberg lay just 1000 yards ahead but was
not seen due to it being a moonless night.

Verse 4:
She was hit starboard bow - many assumed it
was just a glancing blow which she had
survived.

Verse 5:
The crew of The Californian went to bed as it
was thought that she was having a party.

Verse 6:
She held only 20 lifeboats instead of the 64
which she was designed to carry - just one-
third of her capacity, and these were not
filled.

Verse 7:
Five compartments were flooded (only four and
she would have survived) , and just before
2-20 am on 15 April she broke up as she sank.

Verse 8:
RMS Carpathia responded to her cries for
help and proceeded to rescue lifeboat
survivors.

Verse 9:
1500 lives were lost.
Approximate survival rates:
1st class - 62%
2nd class - 41%
3rd class - 25%
Women - 75%
Children - 50%
Men - 20%
3 out of 12 dogs survived.

Verse 10:
As they did on deck - all members of the
band were lost, and subsequently were
regarded as heroes.

Verse 11:
1912-2012: 100th Anniversary Poem.

Verse 12:
Captain Edward John Smith went down with
his ship - his body was never recovered.