Page:Poems Jackson.djvu/63

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"SPOKEN".
35
"SPOKEN."
COUNTING the hours by bells and lights
    We rose and sank;
The waves on royal banquet-heights
    Tossed off and drank
Their jewels made of sun and moon,
White pearls at midnight, gold at noon.

Counting the hours by bells and lights,
    We sailed and sailed;
Six lonely days, six lonely nights,
    No ship we hailed.
Till all the sea seemed bound in spell,
And silence sounded like a knell.

At last, just when by bells and lights
    Of seventh day
The dawn grew clear, in sudden flights
    White sails away
To east, like birds, went spreading slow
Their wings which reddened in the glow.

No more we count the bells and lights;
    We laugh for joy.
The trumpets with their brazen mights
    Call, "Ship ahoy!"
We hold each other's hands; our cheeks
Are wet with tears; but no one speaks.