POEMS.
AN INTERNATIONAL EPISODE.
March 15, 1889.
We were ordered to Samoa from the coast of Panama,
And for two long months we sailed the unequal sea,
Till we made the horseshoe harbor with its curving coral bar,
Smelt the good green smell of grass and shrub and tree.
We had barely room for swinging with the tide—
There were many of us crowded in the bay:
Three Germans, and the English ship, beside
Our three—and from the Trenton, where she lay,
Through the sunset calms and after,
We could hear the shrill, sweet laughter
Of the children s voices on the shore at play.
And for two long months we sailed the unequal sea,
Till we made the horseshoe harbor with its curving coral bar,
Smelt the good green smell of grass and shrub and tree.
We had barely room for swinging with the tide—
There were many of us crowded in the bay:
Three Germans, and the English ship, beside
Our three—and from the Trenton, where she lay,
Through the sunset calms and after,
We could hear the shrill, sweet laughter
Of the children s voices on the shore at play.
