The Ship

What is dying?
A ship sails and I stand watching
till she fades on the horizon,
and someone at my side says, "She is gone."

Gone where?
Gone from my sight, that is all;
she is just as large in the masts,
hull and spars as she was when she left my side,
and just as able to bear her load
of living freight to its destination.

The diminished size and total loss of sight
is in me, not in her;
and just at the moment when someone says, "She is gone,"
there are others who are watching her coming,
and other voices take up a glad shout,
"There she comes!"

And that is dying.