The Sea-Weed
The flying sea-bird mocked the floating dulse:
“Poor wandering water-weed, where dost thou go,
Astray upon the ocean’s restless pulse?”
It said: “I do not know.
“At a cliff’s foot I clung and was content,
Swayed to and fro by warm and shallow waves;
Along the coast the storm-wind raging went,
And tore me from my caves.
“I am the bitter herbage of that plain
Where no flocks pasture, and no man shall have
Homestead, nor any tenure there may gain
But only for a grave.
“A worthless weed, a drifting, broken weed,
What can I do in all this boundless sea?
No creature of the universe has need
Or any thought of me.”
Hither and yonder, as the winds might blow,
The sea-weed floated. Then a refluent tide
Swept it along to meet a galleon’s prow—
“Land ho!” Columbus cried.