78 
AMBERGRIS 
 
 
 
 
FROM THE ARGONAUTS 
 
The Harbour, Vera Cruz 
 
I hear the waters faint and far, 
And look to where the Polar Star, 
Half hidden in the haze, divides 
The double chanting of the tides ; 
But, where the harbour’s gloomy mouth 
Welcomes the stranger to the south, 
The water shakes, and all the sea 
Grows silver suddenly. 
 
As one who standing on the moon 
Sees the vast horns in silver hewn, 
Himself in darkness, and beholds 
How silently all space unfolds 
Into her shapeless breast the spark 
And sacred phantom of the dark ; 
So in the harbour-horns I stand 
Till I forget the land. 
 
Who sails through all that solemn space 
Out to the twilight’s secret place, 
The sleepy waters move below 
His ship’s imaginary flow. 
No song, no lute, so lowly chaunts 
In woods where still Arisbe haunts, 
Wrapping the wanderer with her tresses 
Into untold caresses. 
 
For none of all the sons of men 
That hath known Artemis, again 
Turns to the warmer earth, or vows 
His secrets to another spouse. 
The moon resolves her beauty in