John La Farge, American
Having Misplaced Her Boat’s Emergency Flares, Haley Was Forced To Resort To More Creative Ways To Attract Attention, 1895-96
Watercolor and gouache over graphite on wove paper mounted to paperboard
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Info, or links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here, here (archived if necessary), here, here, here, here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), here, here, here, here, here, and here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page.
/// Herman Melville’s first book was Typee,
a memoir of his first time at sea.
He encountered a girl,
a well-formed native pearl,
known as Fayaway, guileless and free.
/// She was tall and as thin as a mast,
and her beautiful face far surpassed
other girls on that isle,
with a tattoo-less smile.
Although flat-chested, far from flat-assed.
/// She was, on one occasion, allowed
to stand up in a boat, tall and proud.
The loin-cloth she would wear
she now waved in the air
like a sail and no longer a shroud.
/// From a whaling craft with low morale,
“Tommo” jumps ship, along with a pal.
They’d been warned to beware
of the cannibals there,
but they hid in that South Seas locale.
/// Two tribes lived there; one ate human meat.
They met natives who seemed kind and sweet.
So they stayed with that bunch,
but when served a hot lunch
they were picky about what they’d eat.
/// Later on, they confirmed what they’d feared.
They were with the Typees, (who ate weird).
Despite that Tom would stay,
sleeping near Fayaway.
That’s when Toby, his pal, disappeared.
/// He had worries about Toby’s fate,
and determined he’d no longer wait.
He made his getaway
without young Fayaway.
(It’s unclear whether she’d been his mate.)
/// After more months of seawater foam,
“Tommo” (Melville) at last made it home.
Got his book published, then
he met Toby again!
He’d survived and had read Herman’s tome.