THE SKYWAYMAN
after the poem "The Highwayman"
by Alfred Noyes
Part
I
The solar wind
whipped in darkness, among the silent stars
The moon was a
silver spaceship 'twixt Jupiter and Mars
The road was a
ribbon of moonlight, down to the shipyard shore
And the skywayman
came riding-
--riding-riding-
The skywayman
came riding up to the shipyard port.
Black bangs
brushed over his forehead, his ears pointed long and thin,
He wore a cloak
of velvet, soft breeches cloy'd to his skin;
They fitted with
never a wrinkle; his boots were up to the thigh.
And he rode with
a foreign splendor,
Wrapped in
majestic splendor,
Himself an alien
splendor, under the jeweled sky.
Over the cobbles
he clattered and clashed around the docking field,
He tapped his
whip on the porthole, but all was secured and sealed;
He whistled a
tune to the window, and who should be waiting there?
The ship's
sovereign lord and master,
Kirk, the ship's
sovereign master,
Inspiring his
crew to hold steady, though danger filled the air.
And in the dark
old shipyard, a mooring-wicket creaked
Where Ben the
records' officer listened, his face white and peaked.
His eyes were
hollows of madness, his hair had gone to gray,
For he loved the
ship's lord and master,
The ship's only
lord and master,
Still as a cat he
listened, and Ben heard the Vulcan say-
"One kiss my
fair-haired sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight,
I shall be back
with the cloaking device before the morning light;
Yet, if they
press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me
by moonlight,
Watch for me by
moonlight,
I'll come to thee
by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
He rose erect in
the saddle; he scarce could reach the port,
But Kirk
unlatched the porthole, and smiling he leaned out
Spock knew that
this was heaven as he stroked the golden hair;
And he kissed the
lips in the moonlight,
Oh sweet full
lips in the moonlight
Then he tugged
his rein in the moonlight, and spurred on the fiery mare.
Part
II
He did not come
in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the
tawny sunset, before the rise of moon,
When the road was
a hangman's lanyard, looping the fleet in short,
A Romulan troop
came marching-
Marching-marching-
At Ben's word,
the troop came marching, and stormed the ship in port.
They said no word
to the red-shirts; they coldly slew them dead,
But they tied the
ship's lord and master and bound him to the bed;
Two of them knelt
at his casement, with phasers at their side!
There was death
at every porthole;
And hell at one
dark porthole;
For Kirk could
see through the casement, the road that Spock would ride.
They had tied him
up at attention, with many a loathful jest;
They bound a
phaser beside him, with the barrel beneath his breast.
"Now keep a good
watch!" they dared him.
Kirk heard his
Vulcan say-
'Look for me by
moonlight;
Watch for me by
moonlight;
I'll come to thee
by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!'
Kirk twisted his
hands behind him, but all the knots held good.
He writhed his
hands 'til his fingers were wet with sweat or blood.
They stretched
and strained for the phaser; Romulans sat close by.
This may be his
only action,
His last,
all-important action.
The tip of one
finger reached it! His moment now was nigh!
The tip of one
finger reached it; he strove no more for the rest.
Up he stood at
attention, with the barrel beneath his breast,
He would not risk
their hearing; this effort must not fail;
For Spock would
return by moonlight
A thieving spy in
the moonlight;
And then Spock
would die by moonlight, die on the shipyard trail.
T'lot-t'lot,
t'lot-t'lot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;
T'lot-t'lot,
t'lot-t'lot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon
of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The skywayman
came riding,
Riding, riding!
The Romulans
looked to their phasers; Kirk stood up straight and still.
T'lot-t'lot, in
the black silence. T'lot-t'lot in the echoing night.
Nearer he came
and nearer. Kirk's face was like a light.
Kirk's eyes grew
wide for a moment; he drew one last deep breath,
Then his finger
moved in the moonlight,
Phaser fire
outshone the moonlight
Burned his breast
in the moonlight, and warned Spock with his death.
Spock turned; he
spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
In the cold glow
of that phaser, charred clear though the chest.
Until an admiral
told him, his face turned gray to hear
'Twas the ship's
lord and master;
The ship's only
lord and master
Who watched for
his love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
Back he spurred
like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white
road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high.
Blood-green were
his spurs i' the golden noon; olive-green was his velvet cloak,
When they shot
him down in the moonlight,
Down like a
sehlat in the moonlight,
As he lay in his
blood in the moonlight, a single name he spoke.
And still of a
starry night they say, when the wind sighs through the stars,
When the moon is
a silver spaceship 'twixt Jupiter and Mars,
When the road is
a ribbon of moonlight o'er the salty shores,
A skywayman comes
riding-
Riding-riding-
A skywayman comes
riding, up to the old Earth port.
Over the cobbles
he clatters and clangs in the docking field,
And he taps his
whip on a porthole, but it is secured and sealed;
He whistles a
tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the ship's
sovereign lord and master,
Kirk, the ship's
sovereign lord and master,
Inspiring his
crew to hold steady, though danger fill the air.