I stand upon the seashore.
A ship spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and heads out across the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength.
And I stand and watch her at length
until she hangs like a speck of white cloud on the horizon,
just where the sea and sky meet to mingle with each other.

At my side someone says: "There! She's gone."

Gone where?
Gone from my sight – that is all.

She is just as large in mast and spar and hull
as when she sailed close by,
and just as able to bare her load of living freight
to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is my vision alone.

At the moment when someone at my side says: "There! She's gone,"
other eyes watch her coming,
and other voices take up the glad shout: "Here she comes!"