Rose from the boiling, bubbling, seething And overflowed With the black tar, heated for the sheathing. And amid the clamors Of clattering hammers, He who listened heard now and then The song of the Master and his men: "Build me straight, O worthy Master, Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, That shall laugh at all disaster, And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!" With oaken brace and copper band, Lay the rudder on the sand, That, like a thought, should have control And near it the anchor, whose giant hand Hold the great ship against the bellowing blast! The pilot of some phantom bark, Each tall and tapering mast Is swung into its place; Shrouds and stays Holding it firm and fast! Long ago, In the deer-haunted forests of Maine, Lay the snow, They fell, those lordly pines! The jaded steers, Panting beneath the goad, Dragged down the weary, winding road To feel the stress and the strain Of the wind and the reeling main, Would remind them for evermore Of their native forests they should not see again. And everywhere The slender, graceful spars And at the mast head, White, blue, and red, A flag unrolls the stripes and stars. Ah, when the wanderer, lonely, friendless, That flag unrolled, 'Twill be as a friendly hand Stretched out from his native land, Filling his heart with memories sweet and endless! All is finished! and at length Has come the bridal day Of beauty and of strength. To-day the vessel shall be launched! With fleecy clouds the sky is blanched, And o'er the bay, Slowly, in all his splendors dight, The great sun rises to behold the sight. The ocean old, Centuries old, Strong as youth, and as uncontrolled, Paces restless to and fro, Up and down the sands of gold. And far and wide, With ceaseless flow, His beard of snow Heaves with the heaving of his breast. With her foot upon the sands, Her snow-white signals fluttering, blending, The bride of the gray, old sea. On the deck another bride Is standing by her lover's side. Shadows from the flags and shrouds, Like the shadows cast by clouds, Broken by many a sunny fleck, Fall around them on the deck. The prayer is said, The joyous bridegroom bows his head. And ever faster Down his own the tears begin to run. The shepherd of that wandering flock, Of the sailor's heart, All its pleasures and its griefs, "Like unto ships far off at sea, And climb the crystal wall of the skies, As if we could slide from its outer brink. Ah! it is not the sea, It is not the sea that sinks and shelves, That rock and rise With endless and uneasy motion, Now sinking into the depths of ocean. To the toil and the task we have to do, Then the Master, With a gesture of command, Waved his hand; And at the word, Loud and sudden there was heard, All around them and below, The sound of hammers, blow on blow, She starts, she moves, -she seems to feel |