~What Is Dying~

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white
sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.



She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come to
mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says:



"There, she is gone!"



"Gone where?"



"Gone from my sight....that is all."



She is just as large in mast and hull
and spar as she was when she left my
side and she is just as able to bear her
load of living freight to her destined port.



Her diminished size is in me,
not her.
And just at the moment when
someone at my side says:



"There, she is gone!"



there are other eyes
watching her coming,
and other voices ready to
take up the glad shout:



"Here she comes!"



And that is dying.