The Spike: or, Victoria University College Review, June 1923
Whither Away?
Whither Away?
I do not know
What magic trembled in the air—
I only know
That suddenly, I grew aware,
As I stepped through my window wide,
Of something very wonderful
There in the evening coolth outside.
It thrilled me with its ecstasy,
And stilled me with its mystery,
Made my heart leap
And my eyes weep.
Below me lay the sea,
All luminous grey,
With a creaminess
And a dreaminess,
For it still seemed day,
Though the moon had come
High into the sky,
And its sea-path shimmered
And dimpled and glimmered,
And a ship was sailing by—
A ship like a galleon, white of sail;
And my heart cried after it like a hail,
"Whither away?"
And all the air, it seemed to me
Waited to hear the far reply.
But never an answer came to me,
Never I knew the whither or why.
So I went back to the dimming room
And the hourly gloom,
Leaving behind me the magic and beauty
For safety and duty,
As it behoveth the womanly-wise—
But sometimes I see with my closed eyes
The young moon smiling above the bay,
And the white ship sailing—"Whither away?"
M.L.N.