Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-08-13
THE SHIP IN THE DESERT.

They stood upon the mountain brow.
The bearded trappers, hating stood
Irresolute, in nettled ire:
group from out the cooling wood
They gazed right eagerly below,
The flushed sun settled to the west
Like some far hemisphere of fire,
The sands dashed back like fields of snow,
Ana vet again they gazsd. And now,
Fer on and faint, they saw or guessed
They saw, beyond the sands, a line
A dim and distant lifting beach
That daring men might dare and reach;
Dim shapes OF toppled peaks with pine,
And watered foothills dark like wine.
Their leader turned and shook his head,
!" And shall we turn aside, /" he said,
"Or dare this hell?" The men stood still
AS leaning on his sterner viii;
And then he stopped and turned again,
And held his broad hand to his brow,
The far, white levels of the plains
Flashed back like pillows. Even now
He saw rise up remote, mid sea,
Mid space, mid wastes, mid nothingness,
4 ship becalmed distress.
The dim sign passed as suddenly,
And then his eager eyes grew daZed-
He brought his two hands to his face.
Again he raised his head and gazed
With flashing eyes and visa re fierce
Far out, ana resolute to pierce
The far, far. faint receding reach
OF space and touch its farther beach.
He saw but space, unbounded space;
Eternal space and nothingness.
They rested on the deserts rim
OF sand. They saw the sun go down,
Like some round, sinking isle ariame.
Behind them wheeled white peaks Of snow
As they proceeded. Gray and dim.
And ghostly shapes, bat-Ninged and brown,
And awful OBJ ects went and came
Before them now. They pierced at last
!. 4 l. \ IL
There doomed from ont the desert vast
lonely ship. well built and trim,
And perfect al in hull and mast.
No storm had stained it any whit,
No seasons set their teeth in it.
The rains. the elements, and al
The moving things that bring decay
BY fair green lands or fairer seas,
Had touched not here for centuries.
Lo, date has lost all reckoning
In this tost land, and no new thing,
Or old. can anywise befall,
For time goes by the other way.
The ages have not any course
Across this untracked waste. The sky
Wears here one blue, unchsnging hue,
The heavens one unbending mood.
The far, still stars, they filter through
|he heavens, falling bright and bold
Against the sands as beams of gold.
rhe wide, white MON forgets her force;
The very sun rides round and kigh,
AS if to shun this solitude.
What dreams of gold or conquest drew
The oak-built soaking TO these seas,
Ere Earth. old Earth unsatisfied,
Kose up and shook man IL disgust.
And smote his cities down. and dried
These measured, town-set seas to dust?
Who trod these decks? What captain knew
These straits that led to lands ike these?
Blew south sea-breeze or north sea-breeze?
What spiced winds whistled through this sail {?
What banners streamed above these seas?
Aud what strange seaman answered back
To other sea-king's beck and hail.
That blew across his foamy track?
Sought Jason here the golden fleece?
Came Trojan ship or ships of Greece?
Came decks dark-manned from sultry Ind,
wooed here by spacious wooing wind;
Some like a grand. sweet woman. when
great love moves her soul to menu
Came here strong ships Of Solomon
In quest OF 0phir by Csthays
Sit down and dream of seas withdrawn,
And every sea-breath drawn away.
Sit down, sit down. What il the good
That we go still fashioning
Great iron ships or walls of wood;
aigh nasts Of OAK, or anything?
10, al things moving must go by.
The Sea lies dead Behold, this land
Sits desolate in dust beside
His snow white, seamless shroud of sand;
The very clouds have weIt and died,
And only God is in the say.
'Oaquin Miller.