Poems (Holley)/Sometime

by Marietta Holley

SOMETIME.

On the shore I sit and gaze
 Out on the twilight sea,
For my ship may come, though many days
 I have waited patiently;
With waiting trusting eyes,
 A lonely watch I keep
For its silver sails to rise
 Like a blossom out of the deep.

It is built of a costly wood,
 Bearing the strange perfume
Of the gorgeous solitude,
 Where it grew in tropical gloom;
And the odorous scent, the spicy balm
 Of its isle it will bear to me,
As I stand on the shore, in the magic calm.
 And my ship comes in from sea.

It is laden with all that is sweet
 Of the beauty of every clime;
Slowly and proudly 'twill glide to my feet
 In the eve of that fair "Sometime,"
Before me its sails will be furled,
 A princess I shall be,
Crowned with the wealth of the world,
 When my ship comes in from sea.

Sweet faces I then shall see,
 Tender, undoubting, true,
Soft hands will be stretched to me
 With a welcome I never knew;
In the peace of such tenderness
 I shall rest forevermore,
And weep in my perfect bliss,
 As I never wept before.

Sometimes I think it is not far
 And I bend my head and list,
For I think I see a slender spar
 Gleam through the golden mist;
And I fancy I hear the sound
 Of wind in a silken sail,
And an odor rare from Eastern ground,
 Floats in on the languid gale.

But I sit and watch the west
 Till the sun goes down, in vain;
It was only a cloud with an ivory crest,
 A cloud of vapor and rain;
It rises and hides the sea,
 And my heart grows chill and numb,
Lest this terrible thing should be,
 That my ship will never come.

But the morn is bright-the wave
 Is a golden and shining track,
Softly the waters the white sands lave,
 And my trusting faith comes back;
Oh, all that I ever lost,
 And all that I long to be,
Will be mine when the deep is crossed,
 And my ship comes home from sea.