Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/899

 ROBERT BROWNING

We set the sail and plied the oar; But when the night-wind blew like breath, For joy of one day's voyage more, We sang together on the wide sea, Like men at peace on a peaceful shore; Each sail was loosed to the wind so free, Each helm made sure by the twilight star, And in a sleep as calm as death, We, the voyagers from afar,

Lay stretch'd along, each weary crew In a circle round its wondrous tent Whence glcam'd soft light and curl'd rich scent,

And with light and perfume, music too So the stars wheel'd round, and the darkness past, And at morn we started beside the mast, And still each ship was sailing fast'

Now, one morn, land appcar'd a speck

Dim tiembling betwixt sea and sky

'Avoid it,' cried our pilot, 'check

The shout, restrain the eager eye'' But the heaving sea was black behind For many a night and many a day, And land, though but a rock, drew nigh So we broke the cedar pales away, Let the purple awning flap in the wind.

And a statue bright was on every deck! We shouted, every man of us, And steer'd right into the harbour thus, With pomp and prean glorious.

A hundred shapes of lucid stone!

All day we built its shrine for each,

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