Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-09-23
SHIPS THAT CAME BACK.

SHIPS THAT CAME BACK.
freighted my ships with the richest hope
And sent them out to sea;
And the sailors stood at the yielding ropes.
And laughed and ehatted in noisy glee,
And chanted a cheerful yo-heave-yo,
AS the keels went bounding over the bar,
And the prows were pointed to lands afar
Where never the winds but softly blow,
And there. falls naught else on the gazing
eye
Eut the green OF the grass and the blue of
the sky.
0, arsosies fair were those freighted ships,
And they bore on their decks merry crew.
And the songs that fell from their laughing
lips
Sent echoes bach through the noontide blue,
Which caught as l stood ON a headland
bold
And watched the wake OF foamy gold
That they left behind as they plowed the
sea
The ships that would soon come back to
me.
And at night in sleep, when pageants pass,
dreamed that my ships lay on golden sands,
And l heard the songs the sirens sing,
And saw the birds in the sky of Juno
Flap over the masts on languid wing;
And watched the stars adore the moon,
And dawn break on these wondrous lands.
| looked to leeward,
l looked to seaward,
And the slken sails fell in lazy folds,
And roses and daisies and marigolds
Flung their scent TO the breeze which had
carried so free
The ships that would soon come back to
me.
o come - from East or come ye from West,
Or come ~ from North OF come ye from
South,
From lands where is nothing but sunshine
and rest,
Where never is winter or pitiless drouth,
My ships have ye seen,
Or their sails silken sheen,
As the Prows leaped over the waves nodding
crest!
All this would say
To the sailors each dav,
Whose vessels cane over the harhor bar
Aud ended the voyage from lands aIar.
80 far have we been,
But your ships were not seem
We have sailed to the East and then to the
West:
To the North and the South on tho pitiless
But we know not the lands OF sunshine and
rest,
Thy ships will never come back to thee"
Yet 1 waited anl watched through tho weary
years,
For glimpse OF the ships had sent away
So richly freighted in youths bright day;
And my heart was sometimes heavy to tears,
And my eyes grew dim and my steps were
weak,
Aud burroughs were plowed on my pallid
cheek;
Yet oft l would laugh in boyish glee,
For knew that my ships would come back
to me.
'Tis the last OF earth, l am passing away,
tAS Sh'tuOhS bioN lOnSb us luo clOSe VI
day,
Do 1 dream? What sound is that which l
heard?
listen; and 10. on my throbbing car
There falls once moro the yo-heave-yo
That heard from the sailors 80 long ago.
| look fr-m my easement, out, out on the
sea-
My ships, with sails set. are coming to me.
The mariners stand at the yielding ropes,
The decks are freighted with richest hopes,
And youths and maidens in merry CLEO
Are shouting joyous welcome to me.
The ships come nearer. they cross the bar,
Above them blossoms the evening star
There's II purple light in the summer sea,
And radiant glory on mountain and lea;
look on my ships, can see on each face
Of the friends whom l loved tender grace;
They wave their hands as they stand on the
PROV,
And, see! see they beckon me now;
They are waiting TO tell mo my watching is
DER.
arise from my couch and l pass through
the door;
The long quest is ended, my spirit is free,
And my ships have at last como back to
me.
John v Hood, in Philadelphia Inquirer.
HARRY'S CONVERSION.