 | The poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich |  |
ON BOARD THE S. S. CEPHALONIA April 26, 1886
I
O Wind and Wave, be kind to him!So, Wave and Wind, we give thee thanks!
O Fog, that from Newfoundland Banks
Makest the blue bright ocean dim,
Delay him not! And ye who snare
The wayworn shipman with your song,
Go pipe your ditties otherwhere
While this brave vessel ploughs along!
If still to lure him hold your thought,
O phantoms of the watery zone,
Be wary, lest yourselves get caught
With music sweeter than your own!
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II
Yet, soft sea spirits, be not mute;Murmur about the prow, and make
Melodious the west wind's lute.
For him may radiant mornings break
From out the bosom of the deep,
And golden noons above him bend,
And kindly constellations keep
Bright vigils to his journey's end!
III
Take him, green Erin, to thy breast!Keep him, dark London—for a while!
In him we send thee of our best,
Our wisest word, our blithest smile—
Our epigram, alert and pat,
That kills with joy the folly hit—
Our Yankee Tsar, our Autocrat
Of all the happy realms of wit!
Take him and keep him—but forbear
To keep him more than half a year. ...
His presence will be sunshine there,
His absence will be shadow here!
| The poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich | |