And at last, with a crash and a sunset cry from the low soft evening star,
A shadowy schooner suddenly loomed o'er the dark green oily bar;
With fairy-like spars and misty masts in the golden dusk of gloaming,
Where the last white seamew's wide-spread wings were wistfully westward roaming;
VII
Then the song of the foreign seamen rose in the magical evening air,
Faint and far away, as it seemed, but they knew it was, ah, so near;
Far away as her heart from Dan's as he sheepishly drew to her side,
And near as her heart when he kissed the lips of his newly promised bride.
VIII
And when they were riding away in the train on the night of their honeymoon,
What a whisper tingled against her cheek as it blushed like a rose in June;
For she said, "I am tired and ready for bed," and Dan said, "So am I;"
And she murmured, "Are you tired, too, poor Dan?" and he answered her, "No, dear, why?"
IX
It was never a problem-play, at least, and the end of it all is this;
They were drowned in the bliss of their ignorance and buried the rest in a kiss;
And they loved one another their whole life long, as lovers will often do;
For it never was only the fairy-tales that rang so royally true.
X
The rose in her cheek was painted red by the brisk Atlantic breeze;
Her eyes were blue, and her jersey was blue as the lapping, slapping seas;
Her head was bare, and her thick black hair was coiled behind a throat
Chiselled as hard and bright and bold as the bow of a sailing boat.
XI