Lincoln Ross Colcord

To the Memory of My Father

How we have sailed in half-forgotten ships,
By shores unvisited, in boyish days;
The friendly lights, their flash and swift eclipse;
Islands and palm-fringed bays
That linger on horizons of sweet dreams
Though we have sunk those countries far astern;
The trade-wind breeze, flower-filled; the lurid gleams
Where tropic lightnings burn –
These I recall, when ships and men were young;
And while I catch the lost land-smell, and while
I think how well we lived and loved among
The thousand happy isles.

The coasts still stand about the ancient sea;
Ships in the offing rise, and days are fair;
But much is changed: I realize, wonderingly,
You are not sailing there.