'T was a raw day of Autumn's bleak beginning,

When nights are equal, but not so the days;

The Parcæ then cut short the further spinning

Of seamen's fates, and the loud tempests raise[ET]The waters, and repentance for past sinning

In all, who o'er the great deep take their ways:

They vow to amend their lives, and yet they don't;

Because if drowned, they can't—if spared, they won't.