THE SHIP AND THE SEA
She passes. And the indifferent world resumes
Its ancient semblance, and its own device.
Voiceless once more, unpeopled and alone,
One vast monotony magnificent,
The air, the sea, and the infinite sky
Are all—The heart-throbs and the busy minds
Are gone, and wordless comes the wind, the light
No longer sees itself in human eyes,
Nor watch of man is set upon this world.
Nevertheless, it lives, and has its being.
The wind blows on, the sky presides, the sea
Her ageless journeying round the earth pursues,
And onward all the untrodden currents flow.
Man come or gone, ’tis equal. Nature still
Remains, and still the stable elements
Fill their inherent office. Sweet with salt
The free air wanders o’er the wandering waves,
Bright shines the sun upon the shipless sea.
77
