Classic Poem

Let your anchor go whinnying down: it should strike
Deep into some merman's pearl-assaulted skull;
Or—if you like—
A nereid's throat white as death and as beautiful,
A nereid's hair streaked weed green, rust gold where pike
And inquisitive shark teeth pull.

Forget home and the half-friends; forget the soft mouth
Syllabling lovely treacheries; forget the hollow words,
The dust, the drouth—
Everything! Go with the sulphur wings and the sapphire birds
And the cream curves of the great gulls screaming south
And the whales in wallowing herds.

Forget! Let nothing make you remember; allow
No pale intrigue of rose-leaf dust, no pressed clover;
Let no sound now
Haunt your brain with the old crushed cry of the lover;
Forget you ever touched a cool skin, a quiet brow—
Let your anchor go over!