THE THREE SHIPS
Over the waters clear and dark
Flew, like a startled bird, our bark.
Flew, like a startled bird, our bark.
All the day long with steady sweep
Seagulls followed us over the deep.
Seagulls followed us over the deep.
Weird and strange were the silent shores,
Rich with their wealth of buried ores;
Rich with their wealth of buried ores;
Mighty the forests, old and gray,
With the secrets locked in their hearts away.
With the secrets locked in their hearts away.
Semblance of castle and arch and shrine
Towered aloft in the clear sunshine;
Towered aloft in the clear sunshine;
And we watched for the warder, stern and grim,
And the priest with his chanted prayer and hymn.
And the priest with his chanted prayer and hymn.
Over that wonderful northern sea,
As one who sails in a dream, sailed we,
As one who sails in a dream, sailed we,
Till, when the young moon soared on high,
Nothing was round us but wave and sky.
Nothing was round us but wave and sky.
Up in the tremulous space it swung,—
A crescent dim in the azure hung;
A crescent dim in the azure hung;
While the sun lay low in the glowing west,
With bars of purple across his breast.
With bars of purple across his breast.
