O busy ships! that smile in sailing <br />In a glory <br />Like a dream, <br />From the colors of the harbor to the colors of the sea. <br />In singing words or in bewailing, <br />Tell the story <br />As you gleam, <br />Tell the story, guess the language of my idle hours for me. <br /> <br /> <br />O busy waves! so blest in bruising <br />Your white faces <br />On the shore. <br />So happy to be wasted with the purpose of the sea, <br />Content to leave with it the choosing <br />Of your places <br />Evermore, <br />Whisper but the far sea-meaning of my stranded life for me. <br /> <br /> <br />Gray the sails grow in departing <br />Like fleet swallows <br />To the South. <br />Stern the tide turns in its parting, <br />As it follows <br />With dumb mouth. <br />In the stillness and the sternness God makes answer unto me.<br /><br />Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/stranded-13/
