Page:The Garden of Years.djvu/36



All my life long in memory I shall guard

That slow sea-swing that lullabied the heart,

While the thin, thoughtful mast, shrouded and sparred,

Moved in and out upon the silver-starred

Midnight, as if it traced upon a chart:

And the prow forced the fluttering waves apart,

As they had been the leaves of some wise tome,

Wherefrom it read Life’s story from the start,

Set to the music of the whirling foam,

Wind-rippled cordage, and slow-straining yard.

All my life long in memory I shall know

How the slow, careful fingers of the light

Sort and shift countless jewels to and fro

On liquid velvet, when the breezes blow

After the calm that lay upon the night.

All my life long shall linger on my sight

One flower-like cloud that watched the daylight die,

Until the west-wind, pausing in its flight,

Plucked it, and idly on a turquoise sky

Scattered its petals in a crimson snow.