SOMETIME.

On the shore I sit and gaze

Out on the twilight sea,

For my ship may come, though many days

I have waited patiently;

With waiting trusting eyes,

A lonely watch I keep

For its silver sails to rise

Like a blossom out of the deep.

It is built of a costly wood,

Bearing the strange perfume

Of the gorgeous solitude,

Where it grew in tropical gloom;

And the odorous scent, the spicy balm

Of its isle it will bear to me,

As I stand on the shore, in the magic calm.

And my ship come in from sea.

It is laden with all that is sweet

Of the beauty of every clime;

Slowly and proudly‘ twill glide to my feet

In the eve of that fair “Sometime,”

Before me its sails will be furled,

A princess I shall be,

Crowned with the wealth of the world,

When my ship comes in from sea.

Sweet faces I then shall see,

Tender, undoubting, true,

Soft hands will be stretched to me

With a welcome I never knew;

In the peace of such tenderness

I shall rest forevermore,

And weep in my perfect bliss,

As I never wept before.

Sometimes I think it is not far

And I bend my head and list,

For I think I see a slender spar

Gleam through the golden mist;

And I fancy I hear the sound

Of wind in a silken sail,

And an odor rare from Eastern ground,

Floats in on the languid gale.

But I sit and watch the west

Till the sun goes down, in vain;

It was only a cloud with an ivory crest,

A cloud of vapor and rain;

It rises and hides the sea,

And my heart grows chill and numb,

Lest this terrible thing should be,

That my ship will never come.

But the morn is bright — the wave

Is a golden and shining track,

Softly the waters the white sands lave,

And my trusting faith comes back;

Oh, all that I ever lost,

And all that I long to be,

Will be mine when the deep is crossed,

And my ship comes home from sea.