<h2>THE FORSAKEN PORT.</h2>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thro' all this perfect summer day</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The wind has blown from out the west,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And now the sunset fires invest</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where looms the mainland far away,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The old town right abreast.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The red-brown roofs and rugged spires</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Uplift and pierce the sunset fires,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The old town right abreast.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The ships rise up, and sail, and sail,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Then drop beneath the distant rim—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The crimson rim.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We watch their topsails float and trail—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Like bubbles 'round a goblet's brim,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A moment there they rise and dip,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Then break against the sky's red lip.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Unhailed the ships go sailing by</span><br/>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</SPAN></span></p>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The old town over there;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And yet it seems we hear a cry—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A heart-born cry</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Of anguish and despair,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Of hope lost in despair.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In speechful grief the old town stands</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And beckons with its outstretched hands</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As the ships go sailing by.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Long years ago its port was thronged</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">With many a busy sail,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">With rustling sail.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And many a heart has sighed and longed</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">For that old town's cheery hail—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Has sighed and longed for that old town's welcome hail.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, where are they who left thy port</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">In strength of youth, in pride of love?</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Side by side with a dark consort,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Calm seas below, blue skies above,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They tacked and stood across the bar:</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Only the sea knows where they are—</span><br/>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</SPAN></span></p>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Only the sea!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Perhaps at night the phantom ships—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Thy lost ships—come sailing in;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Their spectre crews with parted lips</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That utter no sound, for the spell of death</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Turns even a laugh to a grin.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Do they wait, and list for the din</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Of the cheers and the bells to welcome them in—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">For the cheers and the bells to welcome them in?</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Do their dead hearts know hopes and fears?</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Do they dream of the wives they've not seen for years?—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The wives and the sweethearts who watched them thro' tears</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sail away, sail away, when the wind was south</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the bar was blue at the harbor's mouth,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And the gulls flew low like flakes of snow,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the summer wind bore the heave-yo-ho</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of the sailors brown</span><br/>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</SPAN></span></p>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Into the town?</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Are they here, the ones so dear?</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Alas! the lips that their lips have known,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Alas! the hearts that once beat to their own</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Are lying up on the hillside there,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And the daisies and grasses have overgrown</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Their graves for many a year.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yon sentinel pine that watches the graves</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Where their wives and sweethearts are laid to rest</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The wild winter wind defies and outbraves;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Its roots are sunk in some loved one's breast.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Are their souls at rest?</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sometimes, I think, they must wander down here</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To watch for the ships that never will come.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In the silence of night they throng the old pier</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To welcome the wanderers home;</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Their lustreless eyes—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Enough of death and ghostly tales!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, let the old town keep its vigil there,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Watching for those who were!</span><br/>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</SPAN></span></p>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">What though the dark ship with us sails—</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ah, fools, to freight our hearts with care!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To waste our breath in idle hails,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To cringe and cry.</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We live for those who are, not were!—</span><br/>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</SPAN></span></p>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We live to live, not die!</span><br/>
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