Poem by Francis Bret Harte

The Two Ships

As I stand by the cross on the lone mountain’s crest,
    Looking over the ultimate sea,
In the gloom of the mountain a ship lies at rest,
    And one sails away from the lea:
One spreads its white wings on a far-reaching track,
    With pennant and sheet flowing free;
One hides in the shadow with sails laid aback,--
    The ship that is waiting for me!

But lo! in the distance the clouds break away,
    The Gate’s glowing portals I see;
And I hear from the outgoing ship in the bay
    The song of the sailors in glee.
So I think of the luminous footprints that bore
    The comfort o’er dark Galilee,
And wait for the signal to go to the shore,
    To the ship that is waiting for me.

1. Half an Hour before Supper
2. Don Diego of the South
3. The Latest Chinese Outrage
4. To a Sea-Bird
5. Grandmother Tenterden

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