Classic Poem

A sinking sun, a sky of red,
In bars and banners overhead,
And blown apart like curtains drawn;
Afar a-sea a blowing sail
That shall go down before the dawn;
And they are passion-toss'd and pale,
The two that stand and look alone
And silent, as two shafts of stone
Set head and foot above the dead.

They watch the ship, the weary sun,
The banner'd streamers every one,
Till darkness hides them in her hair.
The winds come in as cold as death,
And not a palm above the pair
To lift a lance or break a breath.
The hollow of the ocean fills
Like sounding hollow halls of stone,
And not a banner streams above;
The sea is set in snowy hills.
The ship is lost. The winds are blown
Unheeded now; yet who shall say:
" We had been wiser so than they
Who wept and watch'd the parting sail
In silence; mute with sorrow, pale
With weeping for departed love " ?