THE PORT O’ MISSING SHIPS

She lies across the western main,

Beyond the sunset's rim;

Her quays are packed with reeling mists —

A city strange and dim:

And silent o'er her harbour bar

The ghostly waters brim.

No sound of life is in her streets,

No creak of rope or spar

Comes ever from the water's edge

Where the great vessels are;

Yet ship by ship steals through the mists

Across her harbour bar.

There many a good galleon

Has made her anchor fast,

And many a tall caravel

Her journeyings ends at last;

But no living eye may look upon

That harbour dim and vast.

For one went down in tropic seas,

And one put fearless forth

To find her death in loneliness

‘ Mid icebergs of the north;

Thus ship by ship and crew by crew

The ocean tried their worth.

She lies across the western main

Beyond the sunset's rim,

Her quays are packed with reeling mists —

A city strange and dim;

And silent o'er her harbour bar

The ghostly waters brim.