Little Poems in Prose

XXXIV ALREADY! A HUNDRED times already the sun had sprung radiant or saddened from that vast ba- sin of the sea whose shores scarce let them- selves be seen; a hundred times already it had plunged again sparkling or morose into its im- mense evening bath; for many days we were able to contemplate the other side of the fir- mament and decipher the celestial Alphabet of the Antipodes, and each of the passengers grumbled and scolded. One would have said that getting near to land increased their suffer- ing; “When then,” they cried, “shall we cease to sleep a sleep that is shaken by the wave, disturbed by a wind that snores louder than we do? When shall we be able to digest our din- ners in a motionless armchair?” Some of them thought of their fire-side, re- gretted their faithless and sullen wives, their squalling offspring. They were all so obsessed by the image of the absent land that I think they would have eaten grass more enthusiasti- cally than do cattle. At last we sighted the