The Mariners

Across the sea, where sunlight dwells

In lands now hid by rocky fells,

Where tales of old speak of the days

Fair ships of gold, in vast array

Set forth, the world to see.

Upon the crests of foaming wave

The sails of crimson tossed and played,

And rays of sun upon the beams

Of fairest timber ever seen

Sparkled like a gem.

Far distant coasts of foreign lands,

Where shadows hid and dark streams ran,

Where ancient houses strong had been,

Before the sea rose up again,

So saw explorers bold.

And so they sailed for countless years,

And hardly word did ever hear

The western lands beneath the sun

Of where had gone, what had become

Of ships upon the deep.

Some say they found the hidden realms

That lesser men would overwhelm;

Some tell of paths beyond the sky,

Where faery folk the roads belie

Beneath the silver moon.

But such a fate their doom may be

That ever thus they sail the sea,

The call of gulls upon their ears

And stars to mark the passing years,

And never west return.