THE BALLAD OF ISKANDER

Sultan Iskander sat him down

On his golden throne, in his golden crown,

And shouted, “Wine and flute-girls three,

And the Captain, ho! of my ships at sea.”

He drank his bowl of wine; he kept

The flute-girls dancing till they wept,

Praised and kissed their painted lips,

And turned to the Captain of All his Ships

And cried, “O Lord of my Ships that go

From the Persian Gulf to the Pits of Snow,

Inquire for men unknown to man!”

Said Sultan Iskander of Yoonistan.

“Daroosh is dead, and I am King

Of Everywhere and Everything:

Yet leagues and leagues away for sure

The lion-hearted dream of war.

“Admiral, I command you sail!

Take you a ship of silver mail,

And fifty sailors, young and bold,

And stack provision deep in the hold,

“And seek out twenty men that know

All babel tongues which flaunt and flow;

And stay! Impress those learned two,

Old Aflatun, and Aristu.

“And set your prow South-western ways

A thousand bright and dimpling days,

And find me lion-hearted Lords

With breasts to feed Our rusting swords.”

The Captain of the Ships bowed low.

“Sir,” he replied, “I will do so.”

And down he rode to the harbour mouth,

To choose a boat to carry him South.

And he launched a ship of silver mail,

With fifty lads to hoist the sail,

And twenty wise — all tongues they knew,

And Aflatun, and Aristu.

There had not dawned the second day

But the glittering galleon sailed away,

And through the night like one great bell

The marshalled armies sang farewell.

In twenty days the silver ship

Had passed the Isle of Serendip,

And made the flat Araunian coasts

Inhabited, at noon, by Ghosts.

In thirty days the ship was far

Beyond the land of Calcobar,

Where men drink Dead Men's Blood for wine,

And dye their beards alizarine.

But on the hundredth day there came

Storm with his windy wings aflame,

And drave them out to that Lone Sea

Whose shores are near Eternity.

For seven years and seven years

Sailed those forgotten mariners,

Nor could they spy on either hand

The faintest level of good red land.

Bird or fish they saw not one;

There swam no ship beside their own,

And day-night long the lilied Deep

Lay round them, with its flowers asleep.

The beams began to warp and crack,

The silver plates turned filthy black,

And drooping down on the carven rails

Hung those once lovely silken sails.

And all the great ship's crew who were

Such noble lads to do and dare

Grew old and tired of the changeless sky

And laid them down on the deck to die.

And they who spake all tongues there be

Made antics with solemnity,

Or closely huddled each to each

Talked ribald in a foreign speech.

And Aflatun and Aristu

Let their Beards grow, and their Beards grew

Round and about the mainmast tree

Where they stood still, and watched the sea.

And day by day their Captain grey

Knelt on the rotting poop to pray:

And yet despite ten thousand prayers

They saw no ship that was not theirs.

When thrice the seven years had passed

They saw a ship, a ship at last!

Untarnished glowed its silver mail,

Windless bellied its silken sail.

With a shout the grizzled sailors rose

Cursing the years of sick repose,

And they who spake in tongues unknown

Gladly reverted to their own.

The Captain leapt and left his prayers

And hastened down the dust-dark stairs,

And taking to hand a brazen Whip

He woke to life the long dead ship.

But Aflatun and Aristu,

Who had no work that they could do,

Gazed at the stranger Ship and Sea

With their beards around the mainmast tree.

Nearer and nearer the new boat came,

Till the hands cried out on the old ship's shame -

“Silken sail to a silver boat,

We too shone when we first set float!”

Swifter and swifter the bright boat sped,

But the hands spake thin like men long dead -

“How striking like that boat were we

In the days, sweet days, when we put to sea.

The ship all black and the ship all white

Met like the meeting of day and night,

Met, and there lay serene dark green

A twilight yard of the sea between.

And the twenty masters of foreign speech

Of every tongue they knew tried each;

Smiling, the silver Captain heard,

But shook his head and said no word.

Then Aflatun and Aristu

Addressed the silver Lord anew,

Speaking their language of Yoonistan

Like countrymen to a countryman.

And “Whence,” they cried, “O Sons of Pride,

Sail you the dark eternal tide?

Lie your halls to the South or North,

And who is the King that sent you forth?”

“We live,” replied that Lord with a smile,

“A mile beyond the millionth mile.

We know not South and we know not North,

And SULTAN ISKANDER sent us forth.”

Said Aristu to Aflatun -

“Surely our King, despondent soon,

Has sent this second ship to find

Unconquered tracts of humankind.”

But Aflatun turned round on him

Laughing a bitter laugh and grim.

“Alas,” he said, “O Aristu,

A white weak thin old fool are you.

“And does yon silver Ship appear

As she had journeyed twenty year?

And has that silver Captain's face

A mortal or Immortal grace?

“Theirs is the land ( as well I know )

Where live the Shapes of Things Below:

Theirs is the country where they keep

The Images men see in Sleep.

“Theirs is the Land beyond the Door,

And theirs the old ideal shore.

They steer our ship: behold our crew

Ideal, and our Captain too.

“And lo! beside that mainmast tree

Two tall and shining forms I see,

And they are what we ought to be,

Yet we are they, and they are we.”

He spake, and some young Zephyr stirred

The two ships touched: no sound was heard;

The Black Ship crumbled into air;

Only the Phantom Ship was there.

And a great cry rang round the sky

Of glorious singers sweeping by,

And calm and fair on waves that shone

The Silver Ship sailed on and on.