Classic Poem

In the crowd that thronged the pierhead,
—come to see their friends take ship
For new ventures in seafaring,
—when the hawsers were let slip
And we swung out in the current,
—with good-byes on every lip,

Midst the waving caps and kisses,
—as we dropped down with the tide
And the faces blurred and faded,
—last of all your hand I spied
Signalling, Farewell; Good fortune!
—then my heart rose up and cried,

“While the world holds one such comrade,
—whose sweet durable regard
Would so speed my safe departure,
—lest home-leaving should be hard,
What care I who keeps the ferry,
—whether Charon or Cunard!”

Then we cleared the bar, and laid her
—on the course, the thousand miles
From the Hook to the Bahamas,
—from midwinter to the isles
Where frost never laid a finger,
—and eternal summer smiles.

Three days through the surly storm-beat,
—while the surf-heads threshed and flew,
And the rolling mountains thundered
—to the trample of the screw,
The black liner heaved and scuffled
—and strained on, as if she knew.

On the fourth, the round blue morning
—sparkled there, all light and breeze,
Clean and tenuous as a bubble
—blown from two immensities,
Shot and colored with sheer sunlight
—and the magic of those seas.

In that bright new world of wonder,
—it was life enough to laze
All day underneath the awnings,
—and through half-shut eyes to gaze
At the marvel of the sea-blue;
—and I faltered for a phrase

Should half give you the impression,
—tell you how the very tint
Justified your finest daring,
—as if Nature gave the hint,
“Plodders, see Imagination
—set his pallet without stint!”

Cobalt, gobelin, and azure,
—turquoise, sapphire, indigo,
Changing from the spectral bluish
—of a shadow upon snow
To the deep of Canton china,—
—one unfathomable glow.

And the flying fish,—to see them
—in a scurry lift and flee,
Silvery as the foam they sprang from,
—fragile people of the sea,
Whom their heart's great aspiration
—for a moment had set free.

From the dim and cloudy ocean,
—thunder-centred, rosy-verged,
At the lord sun's Sursum Corda ,
—as implicit impulse urged,
Frail as vapor, fine as music,
—these bright spirit-things emerged;

Like those flocks of small white snowbirds
—we have seen start up before
Our brisk walk in winter weather
—by the snowy Scituate shore;
And the tiny shining sea-folk
—brought you back to me once more.

So we ran down Abaco;
—and passing that tall sentinel
Black against the sundown, sighted,
—as the sudden twilight fell,
Nassau light; and the warm darkness
—breathed on us from breeze and swell.

Stand-by bell and stop of engine;
—clank of anchor going down;
And we're riding in the roadstead
—off a twinkling-lighted town,
Low dark shore with boom of breakers
—and white beach the palm-trees crown.

In the soft wash of the sea air,
—on the long swing of the tide,
Here for once the dream came true,
—the voyage ended close beside
The Hesperides in moonlight
—on mid-ocean where they ride.

And those Hesperidian joy-lands
—were not strange to you and me.
Just beyond the lost horizon,
—every time we looked to sea
From Testudo, there they floated,
—looming plain as plain could be.

Who believed us? “Myth and fable
—are a science in our time.”
“Never saw the sea that color.”
—“Never heard of such a rhyme.”
Well, we've proved it, prince of idlers,—
—knowledge wrong and faith sublime.

Right were you to follow fancy,
—give the vaguer instinct room
In a heaven of clear color,
—Where the spirit might assume
All her elemental beauty,
—past the fact of sky or bloom.

Paint the vision, not the view,—
—the touch that bids the sense good-bye,
Lifting spirit at a bound
—beyond the frontiers of the eye,
To suburb unguessed dominions
—of the soul's credulity.

Never yet was painter, poet,
—born content with things that are,—
Must divine from every beauty
—other beauties greater far,
Till the arc of truth be circled,
—and her lantern blaze, a star.

This alone is art's ambition,
—to arrest with form and hue
Dominant ungrasped ideals,
—known to credence, hid from view,
In a mimic of creation,—
—To the life, yet fairer too,—

Where the soul may take her pleasure,
—contemplate perfection's plan,
And returning bring the tidings
—of his heritage to man,—
News of continents uncharted
—she has stood tiptoe to scan.

So she fires his gorgeous fancy
—with a cadence, with a line,
Till the artist wakes within him,
—and the toiler grows divine,
Shaping the rough world about him
—nearer to some fair design.

Every heart must have its Indies,—
—an inheritance unclaimed
In the unsubstantial treasure
—of a province never named,
Loved and longed for through a lifetime,
—dull, laborious, and unfamed,

Never wholly disillusioned.
— Spiritus , read, hæres sit
Patriæ quœ tristia nescit.
—This alone the great king writ
O'er the tomb of her he cherished
—in this fair world she must quit.

Love in one farewell forever,
—taking counsel to implore
Best of human benedictions
—on its dead, could ask no more.
The heart's country for a dwelling,
—this at last is all our lore.

But the fairies at your cradle
—gave you craft to build a home
In the wide bright world of color,
—with the cunning of a gnome;
Blessed you so above your fellows
—of the tribe that still must roam.

Still across the world they go,
—tormented by a strange unrest,
And the unabiding spirit
—knocks forever at their breast,
Bidding them away to fortune
—in some undiscovered West;

While at home you sit and call
—the Orient up at your command,
Master of the iris seas
—and Prospero of the purple land.
Listen, here was one world-corner
—matched the cunning of your hand.

Not, my friend, since we were children,
—and all wonder-tales were true,—
Jason, Hengest, Hiawatha,
—fairy prince or pirate crew,—
Was there ever such a landing
—in a country strange and new

Up the harbor where there gathered,
—fought and revelled many a year,
Swarthy Spaniard, lost Lucayan,
—Loyalist, and Buccaneer,
“Once upon a time” was now,
—and “far across the sea” was here.

Tropic moonlight, in great floods
—and fathoms pouring through the trees
On a ground as white as sea-froth
—its fantastic traceries,
While the poincianas, rustling
—like the rain, moved in the breeze,

Showed a city, coral-streeted,
—melting in the mellow shine,
Built of creamstone and enchantment,
—fairy work in every line,
In a velvet atmosphere
—that bids the heart her haste resign.

Thanks to Julian Hospitator,
—saint of travellers by sea,
Roving minstrels and all boatmen,—
—just such vagabonds as we,—
On the shaded wharf we landed,
—rich in leisure, hale and free.

What more would you for God's creatures,
—but the little tide of sleep?
In a clean white room I wakened,
—saw the careless sunlight peep
Through the roses at the window,
—lay and listened to the creep

Of the soft wind in the shutters,
—heard the palm-tops stirring high,
And that strange mysterious shuffle
—of the slipshod foot go by.
In a world all glad with color,
—gladdest of all things was I;

In a quiet convent garden,
—tranquil as the day is long,
Here to sit without intrusion
—of the world or strife or wrong,—
Watch the lizards chase each other,
—and the green bird make his song;

Warmed and freshened, lulled yet quickened
—in that Paradisal air,
Motherly and uncapricious,
—healing every hurt or care,
Wooing body, mind, and spirit
—firmly back to strong and fair;

By the Angelus reminded,
—silence waits the touch of sound,
As the soul waits her awaking
—to some Gloria profound;
Till the mighty Southern Cross
—is lighted at the day's last bound.

And if ever your fair fortune
—make you good Saint Vincent's guest,
At his door take leave of trouble,
—welcomed to his decent rest,
Of his ordered peace partaker,
—by his solace healed and blessed;

Where this flowered cloister garden,
—hidden from the passing view,
Lies behind its yellow walls
—in prayer the holy hours through;
And beyond, that fairy harbor,
—floored in malachite and blue.

In that old white-streeted city
—gladness has her way at last;
Under burdens finely poised,
—and with a freedom unsurpassed,
Move the naked-footed bearers
—in the blue day deep and vast.

This is Bay Street broad and low-built,
—basking in its quiet trade;
Here the sponging fleet is anchored;
—here shell trinkets are displayed;
Here the cable news is posted daily;
—here the market's made,

With its oranges from Andros,
—heaps of yam and tamarind,
Red-juiced shadducks from the Current,
—ripened in the long trade-wind,
Gaudy fish from their sea-gardens,
—yellow-tailed and azure-finned.

Here a group of diving boys
—in bronze and ivory, bright and slim,
Sparkling copper in the high noon,
—dripping loin-cloth, polished limb,
Poised a moment and then plunged
—in that deep daylight green and dim.

Here the great rich Spanish laurels
—spread across the public square
Their dense solemn shade; and near by,
—half within the open glare,
Mannerly in their clean cottons,
—knots of blacks are waiting there

By the court-house, where a magistrate
—is hearing cases through,
Dealing justice prompt and level,
—as the sturdy English do,—
One more tent-peg of the Empire,
—holding that great shelter true.

Last the picture from the town's end,
—palmed and foam-fringed through the cane,
Where the gorgeous sunset yellows
—pour aloft and spill and stain
The pure amethystine sea
—and far faint islands of the main.

Loveliest of the Lucayas,
—peace be yours till time be done!
In the gray North I shall see you,
—with your white streets in the sun,
Old pink walls and purple gateways,
—where the lizards bask and run,

Where the great hibiscus blossoms
—in their scarlet loll and glow,
And the idling gay bandannas
—through the hot noons come and go,
While the ever stirring sea-wind
—sways the palm-tops to and fro.

Far from stress and storm forever,
—dream behind your jalousies,
While the long white lines of breakers
—crumble on your reefs and keys,
And the crimson oleanders
—burn against the peacock seas.