Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/250

POEMS OF OCCASION WRITTEN AT THE OPENING OF A HOUSE-BOOK

(TO MR. AND MRS. W. O. P.)

70° NORTH

(TO H. M. A.)

's this! your tall ship sighted at the Line?

Some three degrees I 'd fain sail back to meet you,—

But orders hold, so let me flash this sign

Astern, and greet you.

You, who so oft have hailed me, ship to ship,—

A cheery consort in our "roaring forties";

Prithee, to whom shall not my ensigns dip,

If he your sort is?

Long on your desk (long in that "Study" chair—

To change the metaphor), dear Alden, still be!

The sturdiest master that was ever there,

Or ever will be.

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