WEARINESS

Snowy sails, silvery sails,

Gleaming in the sun,

Leaving scores of jewelled trails

In the course you run,

On your white wings bear away

All my care and pain;

I would for at least to-day

Be a child again.

Just to thrill with youthful fire,

Kindling heart and brain,

Just to know the old desire

Lofty heights to gain;

Just to hold the simple faith

Into which I grew,

When my God was not a wraith,

And all men were true!

Shadowed sails, clouded sails,

Life hath made me know

That you leave no jewelled trails,

Proudly though you go;

Drops that floods of diamonds seem

Are but dazzling spray,

Fleeting as a happy dream,

Swift to fade away.

Distant sails, waning sails,

Waft me to some shore

Where corroding care prevails

Never, nevermore!

Where the flotsam of the deep

Finds its wanderings cease,

And the shipwrecked sink to sleep

On the strand of peace.