EPITAPH FOR A SAILOR BURIED ASHORE
HE who but yesterday would roam
Careless as clouds, and currents range,
In homeless wandering most at home,
Inhabiter of change;
Who wooed the West to win the East,
And named the stars of North and South,
And felt the zest of Freedom's feast
Familiar in his mouth;
Who found a faith in stranger-speech,
And fellowship in foreign hands,
And had within his eager reach
The relish of all lands—
How circumscribed a plot of earth
Keeps now his restless footsteps still,
Whose wish was wide as ocean's girth,
Whose will the water's will!