Part 1

DRIFTING

By T. Buchanan Read.

Illustrated

From Designs By Miss L. B. Humphrey

Philadelphia:

J. B. Lippincott & Co.

1881.

DRIFTING.

|MY soul to-day

Is far away

Sailing the Vesuvian Bay;

My wing├ęd boat,

A bird afloat,

Swims round the purple peaks remote:--

|ROUND purple peaks

It sails, and seeks

Blue inlets and their crystal creeks,

Where high rocks throw,

Through deeps below,

A duplicated golden glow.

|FAR, vague, and dim,

The mountains swim;

While on Vesuvius' misty brim,

With outstretched hands,

The gray smoke stands

O'erlooking the volcanic lands.

|IN lofty lines,

'Mid palms and pines,

And olives, aloes, elms, and vines,

Sorrento swings

On sunset wings,

Where Tasso's spirit soars and sings.

|I HEED not, if

My rippling skiff

Float swift or slow from cliff to

cliff;--

With dreamful eyes

My spirit lies

Under the walls of Paradise.

Under the walls

Where swells and falls

The Bay's deep breast at intervals.

At peace I lie,

Blown softly by,

A cloud upon this liquid sky.

The day, so mild,

Is Heaven's own child,

With Earth and Ocean reconciled;--

The airs I feel

Around me steal

Are murmuring to the murmuring keel.

|OVER the rail

My hand I trail

Within the shadow of the sail,

A joy intense,

The cooling sense

Glides down my drowsy indolence.

|THE fisher's child,

With tresses wild,

Unto the smooth, bright sand beguiled,

With glowing lips

Sings as she skips,

Or gazes at the far-off ships.

|HAPPY ship,

To rise and dip,

With the blue crystal at your lip!

O happy crew,

My heart with you

anew!

|NO more, no more

The worldly shore

Upbraids me with its loud uproar

With dreamful eyes

My spirit lies

Under the walls of Paradise!