( 5 ) STEAMERS

Like black plunging dolphins with red bellies,

The steamers in herds

Swim through the choppy breakers

On this day of winds and clouds.

Wallowing and plunging,

They seek their path,

The smoke of their snorting

Hangs in the sky.

Like black plunging dolphins with red bellies,

The steamers pass,

Flapping their propellers

Salt with the spray.

Their iron sides glisten,

Their stays thrash:

Their funnels quiver

With the heat from beneath.

Like black plunging dolphins with red bellies,

The steamers together

Dive and roll through the tumult

Of green hissing water.

These are the avid of spoil,

Gleaners of the seas,

They loom on their adventure

Up purple and chrome horizons.