A SOMETHING white came up last night, It was the mist, I wist, or rain. It wheeled about, flashed in and out, And beckoned 'gainst the window-pane. It was a bird, no doubt, — no doubt, And will not come again. And something beat with slow repeat, And heavy swell, the old sea-wall, And shrill and clear and piercing sweet, I thought I heard the boatswain's call. The sails were set and yet, and yet, It may have been no boat at all. But if to-night a sail should leap From out the dark and driving rain, You must not hold me back nor weep, For I must sail a trackless main, To find and have, to hold and keep, What I have sought so long in vain. I need no chart of sea nor sand, Nor any blazing beacon star. My prow against wild waves shall stand Until it cuts the blessed bar, And I run up the shining strand Where my lost youth and Mary are. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CLOISTER by ISAAC ROSENBERG BUCOLIC COMEDY: FOX TROT by EDITH SITWELL |