The collected poems of Arthur Edward Waite :: :: University of Virginia Library

Across the wide and high
Vault of the evening sky!
One sea-fowl wings his solitary flight:
Seekest thou, Bird, thy nest,
Or wilt thou journey West,
Where yonder sun descends and clouds burn bright?

What can compare with thee,
Thou rover of the sea,
So valiant-hearted? Lo, thy breast is bare
To the wild wind, and thou,
With thine undaunted brow,
Darest the dangers of the sea and air!

The mellow sunbeams shine
On those white wings of thine,
As thou dost voyage o'er the salt sea-foam:
In port for wind and tide
The anchor'd ships abide;
Thou only can'st uncheck'd, untiring roam.

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Soul-strength which will not fail
Though wind and storm assail,
This, this supports thee! On one purpose true
Its energies unspent
Are ever kept intent,
And so thou soarest onward through the blue.

Thou dost not pause nor tire,
A subtle inward fire
Is burning in thy heart and in thy brain;
While mine eyes droop and ache,
Which follow in thy wake;
My thoughts alone pursue thee o'er the main.

Now art thou lost at length:
God give thy pinions strength!
Fair flight be thine, sweet rest on distant shore!
Thou cam'st I know not whence,
Thou hast departed hence;
In life and time I may not see thee more.

But souls which dare like thee
The sea-winds and the sea
Have depths and heights unknown to things that die;
They change but still must be,
And being will be free,
And they are kindred to eternity!