Personal Poems, Complete

GODSPEED

Written on the occasion of a voyage made by my friends Annie Fields and Sarah Orne Jewett.

     Outbound, your bark awaits you. Were I one
     Whose prayer availeth much, my wish should be
     Your favoring trade-wind and consenting sea.
     By sail or steed was never love outrun,
     And, here or there, love follows her in whom
     All graces and sweet charities unite,
     The old Greek beauty set in holier light;
     And her for whom New England's byways bloom,
     Who walks among us welcome as the Spring,
     Calling up blossoms where her light feet stray.
     God keep you both, make beautiful your way,
     Comfort, console, and bless; and safely bring,
     Ere yet I make upon a vaster sea
     The unreturning voyage, my friends to me.

     1882.