The End
In the past I have craved for many a thing
And ever you answered "No,"
Now I would ask you for one thing more;
For God's sake let me go!
Truly the Greeks were wise who smiled,
Saying, in days gone by,
Love has only the heart of a child
And the wings of a butterfly!
(Ah, for the cabined sampans, floating free,
Ah, for the tropic moonlit nights, that fling
Unnecessary silver on a sea
Itself with phosphorescent light aglow.
Ah, for the waving palms along the shore.)
Craft, long laid up in a dockyard dry,
Wearily yearn to feel
The cool caresses of living water
Pressing against the keel.
A ship remembers the open sky
Anchored in roadstead ease
And all that the wind and waves have taught her
In far-off perilous seas.
57
