He held the land he had set sail for dear,
Dear as a woman holds a being ere birth.
Deep in the idea, dreaming he stood there
On the forward deck and as the prow rose forth
He had the feeling that it stirred already
Beneath the expanse in which it slumbered away
While the ship, foaming through the watershed
Sped to that breakthrough birth and berthing day.
But it seemed betrayal in discovery.
No invisible cord had bound the two by sea.
He wanted to re-cover it. Too late.
It now lay bared to everyone. He sees
No way save onward, aimless, desolate,
Undriven and empty over empty seas.