Snowy sails, silvery sails,
Gleaming in the sun,
Leaving scores of jewelled trails
In the course you run,
On your white wings bear away
All my care and pain;
I would for at least to-day
Be a child again.
Just to thrill with youthful fire,
Kindling heart and brain,
Just to know the old desire
Lofty heights to gain;
Just to hold the simple faith
Into which I grew,
When my God was not a wraith,
And all men were true!
Shadowed sails, clouded sails,
Life hath made me know
That you leave no jewelled trails,
Proudly though you go;
Drops that floods of diamonds seem
Are but dazzling spray,
Fleeting as a happy dream,
Swift to fade away.
Distant sails, waning sails,
Waft me to some shore
Where corroding care prevails
Never, nevermore!
Where the flotsam of the deep
Finds its wanderings cease,
And the shipwrecked sink to sleep
On the strand of peace.