Poems (Holley)/Sometime
For works with similar titles, see Sometime.
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 keepFor its silver sails to rise Like a blossom out of the deep.
It is built of a costly wood, Bearing the strange perfumeOf 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.