The Wreck

Seared bone-white by the glare of summer weather, Cast side-long, on the barren beach she lies, She who once brought the earth's far ends together And ransacked East and West for merchandise. The sea-gulls cluster on her after-deck Resting from the near seas that wash and fall . . . But, I have heard, at night this side-cast wreck (When all the belfry bells at midnight call) Puts up sail and goes out past mortal seeing: Once more the oceans break beneath her will And she resumes the breath of her old being; She lives the dreams that slumber in her still. Thrilling as down the windy Dark she slopes, Ecstatic, as her sails grow great with wind - She feels the seamen walking with her ropes, The harbour dropping like a star behind.