Classic Poem

Above him in the city street,
 The flame of noon increased;
With tumult as when armies meet,
 Life urged her great and least;
'Mid din and turmoil, dust and heat,
 Went driven man and beast.
He felt the salt wind on his face,
 The wet sand at his feet;
He saw the white sails lift again,
 He heard the singing sailor men
Above the combers' beat;
And half the way across the world the song came clear and sweet.

Above the dismal lodging hung
 The heavy heat of day;
The swarming insects buzzed and clung;
 Within the gas-light's ray
Men wrangled in an alien tongue,
 Or slept as cattle may.
He felt the cool of dew-damp fields,
 He heard the fiddles play
The old remembered dancing tune;
 He saw the white midsummer moon,
And mocking—luring—gay,
The sound of one girl's laughter came from half a world away.