University of Virginia Library

SAIL HO!

I heard a rustle in my garden patch—
I saw a shadow bow beneath my thatch—
One morning while the dawn was breaking fast;
And, coming near, a nervous hand was passed
Across my face, and some one bade me wake,
And “hasten to the cliff, for Heaven's sake:
A sail was shining in the eastern sea!”
“A sail!” I gasped; “the Saints compassion me.
Go you and fire the signal-pyre!” I said.
The shadow turned, and in a moment fled;
And soon I followed—pale, and scant of breath—
For on that chance was staked my life or death.
I skirted the long shore of the lagoon,
Shining and moist—shaped like a crescent moon—
And scaled the rocky battlements that rise,
Like a great wall, against the eastern skies.
The morning air blew down a fragrant whiff,
Combing the wind-burnt grasses on the cliff.
The cactus' thousand thorny palms were spread
Against a sun-cloud hanging, hot and red,
In the horizon; and a little way
Off, in the bright, blue depths of dawning day,
A fair and flickering atom—star-like, pale—
I saw a sole and solitary sail.
Then down I knelt and prayed. The biting fire
Curled the green balsams of my signal-pyre,
And sent a bold black shaft into the air,
That towered above the shadows and grew fair,
Like to a palm in stature, full of grace,
Waving its sable plumes before the face
Of all the world; and, as it would appear,
Commanding that the voyager should draw near.
I shut away the sight in deep suspense,
Half drugged with the rich odors of the dense
And multiplying fumes that hung about,
And half afraid to struggle with my doubt.
The sun arose and all the world was gay;
The sweet winds spirited the mists away,
I lifted up my eyes, where I was bowed,
And, through the portals of a golden cloud,
Beheld the vessel, by fair breezes fanned,
Trimming her sails, and making for the land.
But when she shaped her course toward the shore,
And I was sure my banishment was o'er,
Somehow I was not happy—for I grew
So jealous of the solitude I knew,
And loved my Island dearer than before!