She lies across the western main,
Beyond the sunset's rim;
Her quays are packed with reeling mists —
A city strange and dim:
And silent o'er her harbour bar
The ghostly waters brim.
No sound of life is in her streets,
No creak of rope or spar
Comes ever from the water's edge
Where the great vessels are;
Yet ship by ship steals through the mists
Across her harbour bar.
There many a good galleon
Has made her anchor fast,
And many a tall caravel
Her journeyings ends at last;
But no living eye may look upon
That harbour dim and vast.
For one went down in tropic seas,
And one put fearless forth
To find her death in loneliness
‘ Mid icebergs of the north;
Thus ship by ship and crew by crew
The ocean tried their worth.
She lies across the western main
Beyond the sunset's rim,
Her quays are packed with reeling mists —
A city strange and dim;
And silent o'er her harbour bar
The ghostly waters brim.