The Legend Of St. Ursula

Peekèd, they peer into the future.
They have unsteady bottoms to their ships,
eleven thousand sea-sick virgins
with devils sitting on their hats,

I saw three ships go sailing by
in many tales of many lands.
Does Ursula the captain know
where she shall land her fragile crew?
It’s safer to keep sailing on
than to be owned by pagan men,
though devils twitter, “Oh steady ground
where the green gardens grow!”

Ursula claims a heavenly spouse
called Christ, Freya before her sailed
through the skies, wild as the moon,
trailed by stars, in search of a man.
Or was it this same ship which took
wings in a sea turned upside down?
In which case, the dizzying heights
would add to the discomfort.