Page:Poetry, a magazine of verse, Volume 7 (October 1915-March 1916).djvu/32

POETRY: A Magazine of Verse

Hung in the parlors of the town
 * Are many pictures of tall ships,
 * White-billowy to their pennon-tips,

And painted black or shining brown
 * And, seeing them, the wild thought slips
 * Back to those wild and white sea-trips

When Round Pond shared the sea's renown;

And all her captains sailed a fleet,
 * Long-keeled and deep, around the Horn,
 * Where Del Fuego lies forlorn

In cloudy rack or scudding sleet.
 * On other seas of Capricorn
 * Old voyagers knew their house-flags, borne

Where Indian and Pacific meet.

Strong oils and wool from Boston bar,
 * Bright silks from busy blue Hong Kong—
 * And many a little mellow gong

On the shore wind, cleared for Samar
 * And all the isles of Orient song.
 * Oh, how the wind-clips sails would throng!

Great ships—who knows now where they are?

The captains leave their white-walled homes
 * Built out of earnings from far lands,