| I HAVE ships that went to sea | |
| More than fifty years ago; | |
| None have yet come home to me, | |
| But are sailing to and fro. | |
| I have seen them in my sleep, | 5 |
| Plunging through the shoreless deep, | |
| With tattered sails and battered hulls, | |
| While around them screamed the gulls, | |
| Flying low, flying low. | |
| |
| I have wondered why they stayed | 10 |
| From me, sailing round the world; | |
| And I 've said, "I 'm half afraid | |
| That their sails will ne'er be furled." | |
| Great the treasures that they hold, | |
| Silks, and plumes, and bars of gold; | 15 |
| While the spices which they bear | |
| Fill with fragrance all the air, | |
| As they sail, as they sail. | |
| |
| Ah! each sailor in the port | |
| Knows that I have ships at sea, | 20 |
| Of the waves and winds the sport, | |
| And the sailors pity me. | |
| Oft they come and with me walk, | |
| Cheering me with hopeful talk, | |
| Till I put my fears aside, | 25 |
| And, contented, watch the tide | |
| Rise and fall, rise and fall. | |
| |
| I have waited on the piers, | |
| Gazing for them down the bay, | |
| Days and nights for many years, | 30 |
| Till I turned heart-sick away. | |
| But the pilots, when they land, | |
| Stop and take me by the hand, | |
| Saying, "You will live to see | |
| Your proud vessels come from sea, | 35 |
| One and all, one and all." | |
| |
| So I never quite despair, | |
| Nor let hope or courage fail; | |
| And some day, when skies are fair, | |
| Up the bay my ships will sail. | 40 |
| I shall buy then all I need,— | |
| Prints to look at, books to read, | |
| Horses, wines, and works of art,— | |
| Everything except a heart. | |
| That is lost, that is lost. | 45 |
| |
| Once when I was pure and young, | |
| Richer, too, than I am now, | |
| Ere a cloud was o'er me flung, | |
| Or a wrinkle creased my brow, | |
| There was one whose heart was mine; | 50 |
| But she 's something now divine, | |
| And though come my ships from sea, | |
| They can bring no heart to me | |
| Evermore, evermore. | |
