They stood there until the lighter reached the great ship that was waiting to take them across the water to a new world.
And when at last they were safely on board, and the lighters had gone back empty into the harbour, they stood on the wide deck of the ship, with their faces turned toward Ireland, until all they could see of it in the gathering dusk was a strip of dark blue against the eastern sky, with little lights in cottage windows twinkling from it like tiny stars.
Then they turned their faces toward the bright western sky.
Note 1. Copyright of this poem by Herbert Trench, held by John Lane.