By her battered hatch I leaned and caught
    Sounds from the noisome hold,—­
    Cursing and sighing of souls distraught
    And cries too sad to be told. 
    Then I strove to go down and see;
    But they said, “Thou art not of us!”
    I turned to those on the deck with me
    And cried, “Give help!” But they said, “Let be: 
    Our ship sails faster thus.”

    Jill-o’er-the-ground is purple blue,
    Blue is the quaker-maid,
    The alder clump where the brook comes through
    Breeds cresses in its shade. 
    To be out of the moiling street
    With its swelter and its sin! 
    Who has given to me this sweet,
    And given my brother dust to eat? 
    And when will his wage come in?

    Scattering wide or blown in ranks,
    Yellow and white and brown,
    Boats and boats from the fishing banks
    Come home to Gloucester town. 
    There is cash to purse and spend,
    There are wives to be embraced,
    Hearts to borrow and hearts to lend,
    And hearts to take and keep to the end,—­
    O little sails, make haste!

    But thou, vast outbound ship of souls,
    What harbor town for thee? 
    What shapes, when thy arriving tolls,
    Shall crowd the banks to see? 
    Shall all the happy shipmates then
    Stand singing brotherly? 
    Or shall a haggard ruthless few
    Warp her over and bring her to,
    While the many broken souls of men
    Fester down in the slaver’s pen,
    And nothing to say or do?

NOTES

=Gloucester town=:  Gloucester is a seaport town in Massachusetts, the chief seat of the cod and mackerel fisheries of the coast.

=Jill-o’er-the-ground=:  Ground ivy; usually written Gill-over-the-ground.

=Quaker-maid=:  Quaker ladies; small blue flowers growing low on the ground.

=wax-red=:  The huckleberry blossom is red and waxy.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

Read the poem slowly through to yourself, getting what you can out of it, without trying too hard.  Note that after the third stanza the earth is compared to a ship.  After you have read the poem through, go back and study it with the help of the following questions and suggestions:—­

The author is out on the moors not far from the sea:  What details does he select to make you feel the beauty of the afternoon?  What words in the first stanza suggest movement and freedom?  Why does the author stop to tell about the flowers, when he has so many important things to say?  Note a change of tone at the beginning of the fourth stanza.  What suggests to the author that the earth is like a ship?  Why does he say that it is not a steadfast place?  How does the fifth stanza remind you of The Ancient Mariner?  Why does the author speak so passionately