AFTER THE SEA-SHIP

After the sea-ship, after the whistling winds,
After the white-gray sails taut to their spars and ropes,
Below, a myriad myriad waves hastening, lifting up their
     necks,
Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship,
Waves of the ocean bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying,
Waves, undulating waves, liquid, uneven, emulous waves,
Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with
     curves,
Where the great vessel sailing and tacking displaced the
     surface,
Larger and smaller waves in the spread of the ocean yearnfully
     flowing,
The wake of the sea-ship after she passes, flashing and frolicsome
     under the sun,
A motley procession with many a fleck of foam and many
     fragments,
Following the stately and rapid ship, in the wake following.

1874 1881