Gone From Sight (Henry Van Dyke)
We are standing upon the seashore.
A ship, at our side, spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength.
We stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud, just where the sea and sky come together.
Then someone at our side says
“She is gone.”
Gone Where?
Gone from our sight, that is all.
She is just as large in mask, hull, and spar as she was when she left our side.
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destination port.
Her diminished size is in us – not her.
And just at the moment when someone says,
“There, she is gone”.
There are eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout,
“Here she comes!”
Katy fisher
13th May 2024