Classic Poem

1

On the equator
Pauses the good ship
In her flight southward.
Useless her broad sails.
Gone is the north-wind,
Gone is the south-wind,
Gone is the east-wind,
Gone is the west-wind
Down from the zenith
Pour the sun's arrows.
Glassy the surface
Of the vast ocean.
Only the long swell
Of the Pacific
Rolls her to starboard,
Rolls her to larboard,
Rest she finds never.
Even as a traveler
Lost in the desert
Scans the horizon,
Watching for succor —
So doth the good ship
Watch for the breezes,
Waiting impatient,
Longing for succor.

2

Rises before me
Then a blest vision —
Earth, the All-Mother —
And, like Antaeus,
I long for her presence
Homesick her child rocks
Out on the salt seas.
Earth loves the earth-born.
O to lie happy,
Supine on the green grass,
Under the maples,
Dreaming and listening
To the birds singing,
As in my boyhood!
O to feel once more
Mother Earth near me!
That she might fold me
Fast in her green arms!
That I might rest there,
Clasped in her bosom!

3

Visions celestial,
Sounds beatific,
Sights of the green earth,
Chords of her music,
Meadows and bird-songs,
Mountains and forests,
Gurgling of brooklets,
Scents of the woodland,
Vales Paradisic,
Lowing of cattle,
Farewell — ah farewell!

4

Once more behold I,
Calm-bound, the good ship;
Hear her great main-sail
Uselessly flapping;
As one the long swell
Of the Pacific
Rolls she to starboard,
Rolls she to larboard,
Rest finding never.