Page:Poems, Volume 1, Coates, 1916.djvu/193



PART from all,

"Child of the World's old age,"

Heedful of naught beyond the billowy wall

That closely girt her island hermitage,

She pondered still with half-averted look,

The early lessons of the great World-book,

Nor cared to turn the page;

For a strange dread

Possessed her. To invoke

Aid of her gods she tried,—scarce comforted

That countless barrier-waves about her broke;

But when with bold command, in Yeddo Bay

A squadron anchored—oh, prodigious day!—

The Orient awoke!

Though one long blind,

At first in fruitless quest

Must grope her course, yet, with enlarging mind,

She quickly clearer saw; and from her breast