Classic Poem

And so is ended all their valiant past
Who once were fellow madcaps with the gale.
How should these embers vision at the last
The cloud-flung spar, tall prow, and windy sail?
Yet even now the flames remember — dyed
Scarlet and jade and amber, fire and foam —
The sunset seas that knew their venturous pride,
The hush of starry dawns that bore them home.
These burn a little hour in requiem.
Oh, Love, draw near and watch their beauty die.
What if our argosies must follow them
To wrack and rot beneath an alien sky,
If our dead dreams may burn in jade and gold
To fend some other lovers from the cold!