The Wan Sun Westers, Faint And Slow

The wan sun westers, faint and slow;     The eastern distance glimmers gray;     An eerie haze comes creeping low     Across the little, lonely bay;     And from the sky-line far away     About the quiet heaven are spread     Mysterious hints of dying day,     Thin, delicate dreams of green and red.     And weak, reluctant surges lap     And rustle round and down the strand.     No other sound . . . If it should hap,     The ship that sails from fairy-land!     The silken shrouds with spells are manned,     The hull is magically scrolled,     The squat mast lives, and in the sand     The gold prow-griffin claws a hold.     It steals to seaward silently;     Strange fish-folk follow thro' the gloom;     Great wings flap overhead; I see     The Castle of the Drowsy Doom     Vague thro' the changeless twilight loom,     Enchanted, hushed.    And ever there     She slumbers in eternal bloom,     Her cushions hid with golden hair.     1875